When "The White Tiger," founder of a taxi service in Bangalore, hears of the impending visit of China's Premier, Wen Jiabao, to Bangalore, he writes to the premier to tell him "the truth about Bangalore." The resulting series of letters chronicle Balram Halwai's rise from the son of a poor rickshaw puller to a respected entrepreneur.
Balram grew up in "the darkness," his term for poor India, but through a series of fortunate events, he lands a spot as the driver and house servant of the son of one of his village's wealthy landlords. Living in Delhi, he quietly observes the lives of India's upper class, bribing government officials, visiting prostitutes, mistreating the poor, and going to night clubs. He compares the life of the Indian servant to being in a "rooster coop" and longs to get out.
His cynical, biting observations probably don't sit well with the elite of India, but Balram's story opens a window on the lifestyle and attitudes of India's underclass. His bosses state that they don't really know much about the caste system; that's something that rural Indians are hung up on. But clearly class, if not caste, shapes everything they do and the way they view others.
In a way, Balram is a hero for his stepping out of his preordained role and becoming a wealthy entrepreneur. He spends the whole book justifying the route he took to get there: by murdering and robbing his trusting, naive master. But as he tells Premier Jiabao, even if he ends up getting caught, jailed, or hanged, "it was all worthwhile to know, just for a day, just for an hour, just for a minute, what it means not to be a servant."
A first-time novelist, Adiga tells a darkly humorous tale, taking the reader from the slums of the city to the shining new technology centers, challenging the structures of India's social conventions, both ancient and modern. Highly recommended!!
In a way, Balram is a hero for his stepping out of his preordained role and becoming a wealthy entrepreneur. He spends the whole book justifying the route he took to get there: by murdering and robbing his trusting, naive master. But as he tells Premier Jiabao, even if he ends up getting caught, jailed, or hanged, "it was all worthwhile to know, just for a day, just for an hour, just for a minute, what it means not to be a servant."
A first-time novelist, Adiga tells a darkly humorous tale, taking the reader from the slums of the city to the shining new technology centers, challenging the structures of India's social conventions, both ancient and modern. Highly recommended!!
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