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The White Tiger

By Aravind Adiga

(268)

| Hardcover | 9781843547204

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Book Description

Meet Balram Halwai, the 'White Tiger': servant, philosopher, entrepreneur and murderer. Balram, the White Tiger, was born in a backwater village on the River Ganges, the son of a rickshaw-puller. He works in a teashop, crushing coal and wiping tables, but nurses a dream of escape. When he learns thaContinue

Critics

His monster's voice

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga 321pp, Atlantic, £12.99 Balram Halwai, the narrator of The White Tiger, is not going to let a lack of education keep him in the dark. He is heading for glory in India's bright future; he will be one of those who stuff ... (read full critics)

guardian.co.uk published on Fri, 24 Sep 2010

The White Tiger

I'm now going to say how brilliantly Kerry Shale reads the new Man Booker prize winner about a ruthless rickshaw-puller's son from a Ganges village who, by hook or by crook (mostly crook), becomes a Bangalore millionaire - with an Indian accent. How ... (read full critics)

guardian.co.uk published on Fri, 24 Sep 2010

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29 Reviews

4 people find this helpful

2 stars may be too little, this is not a bad book (besides, who am I to destroy the booker prize winner anyway?). mr Adiga shows us his India: the un-holy, un-mystic, un-saibaba and un-motherteresa India that very few have revealed and fewer wish to discover. his pretext is captivating: Balram, the ... (continue)

2 stars may be too little, this is not a bad book (besides, who am I to destroy the booker prize winner anyway?). mr Adiga shows us his India: the un-holy, un-mystic, un-saibaba and un-motherteresa India that very few have revealed and fewer wish to discover. his pretext is captivating: Balram, the entrepreneur, the servant, the driver...him, Munna ("boy" as everyone called him before the regime gave him a name) will lead the president of the Republic of China through an amazing 7-nights long journey towards the discovery of the true Indian entrepreneurship.
"now, mr. premier, every day thousands of foreigners fly into my country for enlightenment. they go to himalaya, or the benaras, or to bodh gaya. they get into weird poses of yoga, smoke hashish, shag a sadhu or two, and think they are getting enlightened. ha!"
this book provides a whole new perspective and is a nice story, witty and well written. problem is, after Shantaram, everything about India has been said.

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disastrino said on Feb 25, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

A book that shows the dark side of India. The inequality between the rich and the poor, the problematic and implicit rules deep-rooted in the economic and political world, and the corruption of the society and the human mind. I don't know what has corrupted the mind of people living in the big citie ... (continue)

A book that shows the dark side of India. The inequality between the rich and the poor, the problematic and implicit rules deep-rooted in the economic and political world, and the corruption of the society and the human mind. I don't know what has corrupted the mind of people living in the big cities. Maybe just as what Balram commented in the book: the city corrupted his master who used to have good virtues. But Balram might not notice the city has corrupted him as well. Well, maybe I shouldn't call it a corruption. Maybe that's the most efficient form of education after all, as his exposure in city transformed him on one side to be a murderer; on the other side, to be a successful entrepreneur with visions and big plans. The temptations of a modern life, the feeling of being locked in a cage, the realization of how the poor being deprived by the rich. All of the above are the substances of Balram's education received in Dehli.
This is the side of Indian I may not want to know, and the human mind depicted in the book is too amoral too be true. What are people thinking behind their smiling faces? I thought of my trip to Nepal and couldn't help asking myself: what are those taxi driver thinking when they were driving me around?
One of the most powerful books I've read in recent years.

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Ellery said on Mar 20, 2010 about the Mass Market Paperback edition | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

This story kept me reading...the main character is so flawed but so interesting. I think everyone can relate one way or another.

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Marc Cygnus said on Oct 23, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Not as nearly enthusiastic as the comments on the book cover. But reading it in India helped to understand a lot of details. What Adiga portraits is the dark India, the one without the amazing colors. The poor India, the dirty India. Just what I've seen in Delhi. Adiga digs deeply in the socio-polit ... (continue)

Not as nearly enthusiastic as the comments on the book cover. But reading it in India helped to understand a lot of details. What Adiga portraits is the dark India, the one without the amazing colors. The poor India, the dirty India. Just what I've seen in Delhi. Adiga digs deeply in the socio-political context, and that's where the book works very well. The main plot, with the assassination and the escape, failed to catch me. And I felt the last 20 pages a drag to the end, kind of like even Adiga was tired.

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Gekko P. said on Oct 26, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Aravind Adiga has done a terrific job writing a novel that provides deep insight into the true face of India. It is a powerful and realistic satire that exposes the systemic corruption and the plight of the poor. I especially admire Adiga's humourous prose and linguistic flair:
"Like eunuchs d ... (continue)

Aravind Adiga has done a terrific job writing a novel that provides deep insight into the true face of India. It is a powerful and realistic satire that exposes the systemic corruption and the plight of the poor. I especially admire Adiga's humourous prose and linguistic flair:
"Like eunuchs discussing the Kuma Sutra, the voters discuss the elections in Laxmangarh."
"A handful of men in this country have trained the remaining 99.9 to exist in perpetual servitude; a servitude so strong that you can put the key of his emancipation in a man's hands and he will throw it back at you with a curse."
"Do we loathe our masters behind a facade of love - or do we love them behind a facade of loathing?"
Still, I can't bring myself to love this book. However enlightening the story is, I just can't feel any sympathy for Balram (the main character). Yes he is a poor guy oppressed in every way, but he is also an opportunistic, cold-blooded murderer. I half-expected him to show remorse at the end, but no, he gloats over his successful career as if his master deserves to be killed mercilessly. I just can't accept that. I can't like a book in which the protagonist is totally unlikable.

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Holmes said on Aug 15, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

you will never look at your driver with the same eyes...ironic, deep, hilarious at time. a must read!

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ziacri said on Jun 14, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

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Book Details

Rating:
(268)
- 5 stars
- 4 stars
- 3 stars
- 2 stars
- 1 star
English Books
Hardcover 336 Pages
ISBN-10: 1843547201
ISBN-13: 9781843547204
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Pub date: Mar 01, 2008
Dimensions: 1355 mm x 968 mm x 258 mm Just how big is that?
Also available as: Mass Market Paperback, Paperback, Audio CD, Others and eBook
In other languages: other languages Livres Français, Libros en Español, Libri Italiani