The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (2008 Booker Longlist)
Almost a week after the publication of the Booker Longlist I have completed reading the first in my chosen list of six. The White Tiger is Adiga’s debut novel and is a book I was unaware of until its appearance in the list.
The story is narrated by Balram Halwai, born into the “Darkness” of Northern India, Balram becomes a servant to the wealthy Mr Ashok. The novel is constructed as a series of letters in which we come to learn how Balram maneuvers his way from servitude to entrepreneurship in India’s “new economy”.
This book is a tough one for me to review. I feel relatively ambivalent about it. The first half of the novel is solid and engrossing – we learn about Balram’s family, his struggle to escape life in the village. It is powerful stuff, well written and amusing. However approaching the final 3rd I found myself wearying of Balram’s story and the inevitability of the ending. We learn early on that Balram will murder his master Mr Ashok. I was finding myself just wanting him to get on with it…It is a shame because I think the premise had plenty of potential for some real insights into modern India.
My main problem with The White Tiger, was a lack of subtlety. There is a very dark and vicious edge to this story which I found unsettling. Everyone has an angle, is on the take, or has a scheme of some kind. I got a little depressed by this view of humanity by the end of the novel. There was a kind of ugliness to this world which really jarred with me. I guess I was looking for a tiny hint of light mixed with the shade.
On the positive side, there is certainly humor in this novel and a lightness of tone which makes it quick and entertaining to read. I can’t deny that this is like no other Indian novel I have read – Adiga certainly has a distinctive voice and perspective. Balram is an interesting character, amusing and mischievous. As he reveals his life story you do get pulled in. Life in the Darkness is hard, few make it out, the bonds of servitude and family are hard to break. You want Balram to succeed but does the end justify the means?
In summary, I think this is a good debut novel from an author with potential, but I would not back it for the shortlist at this point.
3 / 5
I think my feelings for the novel are encompassed by these reviewers ….
“The White Tiger resembles the stories in Murder Weekly. It is quick, entertaining and full of vividly drawn types: the scheming servant, the corrupt businessman, the spoilt wife. Its lack of subtlety can be wearying, as can its cynicism. But it is a useful counter to optimistic tales of India’s roaring economy.” -Times Literary Supplement
“Yes, it’s fresh, funny, different, and it will please those looking for insights into contemporary India, but The White Tiger offers something less than it might have achieved.” - The Washington Post
More encouraging reviews here and here.
Next Up : The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
Max Cairnduff said,
August 6, 2008 at 12:07 pm
I had an impression from the reviews that this was in some ways closer to noir fiction than literary fiction (to make a largely bogus distinction there). If that makes any sense at all, does it seem to you like that might be right?
There’s a strand of, nominally crime, fiction which is essentially a moral rebuke to the society it depicts. Could that be what this is aiming at?
Great blog by the way, and while I’m here I’d suggest South of the Border, West of the Sun on the Murakami front. A novel with no metaphysical elements at all…
redheadrambles said,
August 7, 2008 at 10:22 am
Um, I don’t think The White Tiger is really noir fiction as I understand it, which is to be a sort of darker kind of hard boiled detective novel. However, I would agree that Adiga is aiming for as you say a “moral rebuke” to society.
Thanks for the Murakami suggestion..
Trevor Berrett said,
August 7, 2008 at 11:35 am
Great review Redhead. It seems you enjoyed it less than I did. I wonder how much of that is because I didn’t expect to enjoy it at all! And I agree with your statement about this not being noir fiction – nice way of putting it.
redheadrambles said,
August 7, 2008 at 12:30 pm
I wanted to enjoy this book more. I think I did go into it with higher expectations than you. My main issue was it seemed to simplify what I am sure is a much more complex societal situation in India – I know the author was not necessarily aiming for realism, but I thought some potential for real insight was lost.
It is probably a great romp of a book if you don’t have any of these expectations, but if it is on the Booker longlist and Tim Wintons Breath is not I will judge it accordingly…
Literate Housewife said,
August 7, 2008 at 1:01 pm
I really appreciate you taking a challenge by reading this book and five others from the long list. The Booker award winners have, in the past, been hit or miss for me. I am looking forward to your continuing reviews. I’m really excited about Netherland. It will be interesting to compare your experience to Trevor’s.
John Self said,
August 7, 2008 at 8:33 pm
I’m about halfway through The White Tiger, rhr, and tending to agree more with you on the book than with Stewart and Trevor, who were more enamoured of it. I’m just not seeing anything particularly interesting in it in style, characters or story. There is some insight into the ‘Darkness’ of modern day India (or we must take Balram and Adiga’s word that it’s insight!) but that’s not enough, so far, to sustain it for me.
Max Cairnduff said,
August 11, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Thanks for the reply Redhead, that theory of mine goes crashing into the dust then, not every idea can be a good one. It is interesting to see how this novel is dividing readers, with some finding it inadequate and others as John says being much more enamoured. Probably not a likely winner on that basis, but a book with at least sufficient merit to divide opinion. That at least I find somewhat heartening.
redheadrambles said,
August 11, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Max – I think the thing with this book is, it is not particularly bad, but the fact it has been longlisted makes me hold it up to a different standard. There was nothing in the writing that made me sigh (with awe), which it should do to make the shortlist..
The secret scripture on the other hand has potential….
Max Cairnduff said,
August 12, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I take your point readhead, I was looking forward to this before the Booker announcement, but I was looking forward to it with different expectations than I now perhaps have by virtue of that announcement.
Like Child 44, perhaps the Booker nomination is not in this case a favour. I think with this one I shall ignore it for now and read it in a year or so, once my expectations have reset (downwards) a bit. Originally, I expected a dark and funny ride through modern India, but a Booker needs to deliver more than that and ultimately it doesn’t sound like this does.
C.B. James said,
August 12, 2008 at 9:42 pm
I was intrigued by this book, but now I’m not so sure. Thanks for the review. I’m looking forward to the others.
redheadrambles said,
August 13, 2008 at 9:49 am
Hey, CB – congratulations on the wedding!. I think The White Tiger is still worth reading…I would hate to put anyone off reading a book. Are you planning on reading any of the Booker books ?.
bookcrazy said,
August 19, 2008 at 5:06 am
“I got a little depressed by this view of humanity by the end of the novel. There was a kind of ugliness to this world which really jarred with me. I guess I was looking for a tiny hint of light mixed with the shade.”
I guess that is what the author intended to acheive. How else do you expect a man to react who kills his master and it changes his life for good. A man is kept in a prison of circumstances where he washes his master’s feet with hot water, even after having been told he has take on murder charges for his master’s wife’s drunken madness. He is bound to be happy he was able to murder and take the money. It is an aceivement. It is like of some of us think that we should break the shambles of this mundane life and become an author, or a social worker, etc. Those are luxuries of those who feel the freedom in their lives. So much of the have-nots around us have no idea what you mean by freedom. You can not even begin to understand the meaning when you have to think about the next day’s meal if you are thrown out of a job. Living on the edge. We should all be thankful that our drivers can not read this. This is, almost, like the Marxist call – “Poors of the world, unite. You have all the riches to loot!” Beware of this author. This was only his first. Without the best of executions, he has been able to create a potential dynamite. Am sure he is on a nuclear mission within this decade.
redheadrambles said,
August 19, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Bookcrazy – Thanks you have given me some things to think about. I will be very interested to see what Adiga writes next, I do hope he improves with time.
Ahirananda Ghosh said,
August 25, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Gripping and funny, this brilliant novel makes us think about our contemporary society. The novel, without a climax or a definitive conclusion, The White Tiger tells us a lot more about ourselves, our minds and our deepest anxieties and desires just as they ought to be expressed and articulated. It is not simply about the Indian society. I think it is about human lives, our darkest thoughts which have no avenues, are deepest fears unexpressed and unresolved. The writer’s choice of words are apt and so are his choice of imageries and images. Some of the readers have suggested that the novel misses out on a conclusion. But is there a conclusion to anything? What is considered a conclusion and why?
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