The White Tiger: A Novel - Outside of a Dog

304 pages

English language

Published April 30, 2008

ISBN:: 9781416562597

(1 review)

The White Tiger is a novel by Indian author Aravind Adiga. It was published in 2008 and won the 40th Man Booker Prize the same year. The novel provides a darkly humorous perspective of India's class struggle in a globalized world as told through a retrospective narration from Balram Halwai, a village boy. In detailing Balram's journey first to Delhi, where he works as a chauffeur to a rich landlord, and then to Bangalore, the place to which he flees after killing his master and stealing his money, the novel examines issues of the Hindu religion, caste, loyalty, corruption and poverty in India. Ultimately, Balram transcends his sweet-maker caste and becomes a successful entrepreneur, establishing his own taxi service. In a nation proudly shedding a history of poverty and underdevelopment, he represents, as he himself says, "tomorrow." The novel has been well-received, making the New York Times bestseller list in …

The White Tiger is a novel by Indian author Aravind Adiga. It was published in 2008 and won the 40th Man Booker Prize the same year. The novel provides a darkly humorous perspective of India's class struggle in a globalized world as told through a retrospective narration from Balram Halwai, a village boy. In detailing Balram's journey first to Delhi, where he works as a chauffeur to a rich landlord, and then to Bangalore, the place to which he flees after killing his master and stealing his money, the novel examines issues of the Hindu religion, caste, loyalty, corruption and poverty in India. Ultimately, Balram transcends his sweet-maker caste and becomes a successful entrepreneur, establishing his own taxi service. In a nation proudly shedding a history of poverty and underdevelopment, he represents, as he himself says, "tomorrow." The novel has been well-received, making the New York Times bestseller list in addition to winning the Man Booker Prize. Aravind Adiga, 33 at the time, was the second youngest writer as well as the fourth debut writer to win the prize. Adiga says his novel "attempt[s] to catch the voice of the men you meet as you travel through India — the voice of the colossal underclass." According to Adiga, the exigence for The White Tiger was to capture the unspoken voice of people from "the Darkness" – the impoverished areas of rural India, and he "wanted to do so without sentimentality or portraying them as mirthless humorless weaklings as they are usually."

4 editions

hsubu reviewed The White Tiger: A Novel by Aravind Adiga

Review of 'The White Tiger' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

This is definitely a well-written book that always keeps the reader's interest. But is it a great book that deserves all the accolades it has gotten? I am not so sure. I felt that the plight of the Indian poor in the 'darkness' is wonderfully captured in the book and the author's clean, clear style makes us think from the perspective of the central character, Balram. The author also manages to capture some genuinely wonderful and funny moments. I am also thankful that the author stays away from sentimentality. [spoiler ahead] But the book becomes a little shaky when the author attempts to capture how Balram, after feeling trapped, decides to break free of his shackles by murdering his boss. How did he go from feeling the need to escape to murdering his boss for stealing the money? The abruptness felt while reading this novel about Balram's decision to kill …

This is definitely a well-written book that always keeps the reader's interest. But is it a great book that deserves all the accolades it has gotten? I am not so sure. I felt that the plight of the Indian poor in the 'darkness' is wonderfully captured in the book and the author's clean, clear style makes us think from the perspective of the central character, Balram. The author also manages to capture some genuinely wonderful and funny moments. I am also thankful that the author stays away from sentimentality. [spoiler ahead] But the book becomes a little shaky when the author attempts to capture how Balram, after feeling trapped, decides to break free of his shackles by murdering his boss. How did he go from feeling the need to escape to murdering his boss for stealing the money? The abruptness felt while reading this novel about Balram's decision to kill his master is because the author seems to have formed the big picture of the plot first and then searched for Balram's motivations.

You see this whole idea of Balram feeling like the 'White Tiger' has a bit of overlap with some interpretations of Nietzsche's 'Ubermensch' - where a superior man escapes his shackles. As can be seen in world history, such ideas of 'White Tiger' or 'Ubermensch' indeed generate a passion and interest but can be interpreted badly to lead to terribly bad choices.

To be clear, this is indeed a very well-written novel, though I do not feel it is as great as some critics and award committees would like us to think. The movie 'Parasite', which came years after this book was published, has some overlapping elements with this story. I found 'Parasite' well-made and funny, but thought it was also totally weird towards the end. This book is much better than the Parasite movie for sure.