[Review] The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga

Title of Book:  The White Tiger
Author:  Aravind Adiga
Publisher:  Free Press

Set in a raw and unromanticized India, The White Tiger—the first-person confession of a murderer—is as compelling for its subject matter as it is for the voice of its narrator: amoral, cynical, unrepentant, yet deeply endearing.


                I chose this book for monthly keyword reading challenge. The requirement of January is to read a book which title contains the word winter/snow/silver/white/cold/shiver/smoke/fire/freeze/breath. I chose this book randomly so I didn’t know what this book is about. Turns out this book is mainly about poverty in India. Reading this book makes me feel grateful that I live in my country.
                The White Tiger is a story about a man’s journey from Darkness into Light. In India, caste is a strict tradition that sometimes makes people there don’t really have a choice in life. But, Balram Halwai makes his own choice to break away from the rooster coop of Darkness. He became a successful entrepreneur after killing his master and took his master’s money.
                This book is written in epistolary form. It’s narrated as letters which addressed to the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao. Balram tell the story in a humorous and sarcastic way. Sometimes he makes a point of ironies that happen in India too.
See, the poor dream all their lives of getting enough to eat and looking like the rich. And what do the rich dream of? Losing weight and looking like the poor.
                The white tiger that’s in the title refers to the main protagonist, Balram. He calls himself as the white tiger after an inspector in his school called him so, and that was happen before he dropped out from school.
                In any jungle, what is the rarest of animals—the creature that comes along only once in a generation? The White Tiger.
                Balram really makes his way into the Light. There’s a price to pay for his success escaping the Darkness. Situation and condition corrupt him until he decides to take a man’s life so he can break away. This book makes me do a lot of thinking. I give 5 out of 5 for the White Tiger. 


2 comments :

  1. Sounds like an interesting read. Might have to add it to my ever growing list...

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  2. Visiting from the monthly keyword challenge link-up. I have heard good things about this book and I'll add it to my list for the ARound the World in 80 books challenge I am doing as well.

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