One needn’t idealize poverty to recognize the humanity in people from different regions, cultures, backgrounds, and classes. Having lived in Bihar, I both recognize the landscapes he describes and resent the cheap caricature he makes of it. And sure enough Adiga’s description of village life follows from so many stereotypes found in colonial literature. Adiga’s labeling this place as “Darkness” in contrast to Civilization (Bangalore) can’t possibly escape a comparison to Joseph Conrad.

The fact that none of the characters are fully realized or sympathetic may be the sign of satire, but if so, it also suggests (and many reviewers seem to agree) that they stand for the real depravity of Biharis. The White Tiger chooses Bihar, the poor state in eastern India-always maligned by reporters who rarely visit there to report on it-as emblematic of poverty and savagery.

(I’m reminded here of Thomas Friedman’s portrayals in The World is Flat.) And yet there remain problems of economic and social inequality.

As the committee says, “The book gains from dealing with pressing social issues and significant global developments with astonishing humour.” In fact, 80% of the world’s software comes from India and so too do many of the world’s richest entrepreneurs. Clearly this politics was a Man-Booker consideration. But all of this is told with comical fun poked not only at the excesses of the rich, but also at the circumstances of poor people.ĭescribed by the Man-Booker committee as a humorous take on “a different aspect of India,” the novel sets itself up as a corrective to one prevailing image of India’s economic success. We learn early on that Balram has committed murder and robbery.

The book takes the form of a series of letters from the narrator, now a self-described entrepreneur in the bustling hi-tech city of Bangalore, to the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, describing “the real India” he will not see during his upcoming official visit. The White Tiger is the story of Balram Halwai, the son of a village rickshawwalla, who through wiles and determination becomes the driver to the hated village landlord. Quickly I found that The White Tiger displays such a mean-spirited voice and a brutal distortion of the lives of poor rural Indians that it makes its celebration puzzling. As an historian of India, who frequently teaches fiction, I picked it up to read on my flight to New Delhi last week. It is the fourth winner by an Indian writer, including Midnight’s Children, by Salman Rushdie, The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy, and Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai. Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger has won the Man-Booker prize.

The white tiger book by aravind adiga