Between the Assasinations, by Aravind Adiga

Every now and then we see the unfortunate phenomenon of a first-time novelist winning wide acclaim, then following it up with a disappointing lesser novel or a collection of stories to feed the reading public's hunger for his or writings.  After the success of The White Tiger, I have no doubt that Aravind Adiga will publish more terrific fiction, but reading Between the Assassinations I had the feeling that he was recycling old ideas, rehashing stories that had not been publishable before, and taking advantage of my willingness to read something else by him.  I feel a little bit bad writing that, as if this were a terrible collection, but I was quite disappointed that this did not measure up.

All that's not to say the stories weren't enjoyable.  Set in the town of Kittur, in southwestern India, the stories interspersed with brief travel guide style entries.  Since they are based in the same town, there are tenuous connections between the stories, but there is not thread of continuity running through them.  The travel entries and the stories themselves give a nice introduction to Kittur.  Set between the assassinations of  Mrs. Indira Ghandi (1984) and Rajiv Ghandi (1991), it also gives a glimpse of the history of India during that time period.

Adiga tells his stories primarily from the perspective of poor, lower-caste Indians.  I see him as a sort of modern Indian Dickens, capturing the gritty reality of life in the streets and the efforts of those who have nothing to become something.  Some of the characters offer insight on the state of being poor.  The rich, George the mosquito man (he sprays for mosquitos), says the rich have a cushion for making mistakes: "You know what the biggest difference is between being rich and being like us?  The rich can make mistakes again and again.  We make only one mistake, and that's it for us."  Makes sense to me.

There's plenty of good humor here, along with the cultural education, even for the non-Indian reader, but I suspect the Indian would have a much deeper appreciation for the stories.  There were even times when Indian words or references were made without explanation; if his audience is primarily U.S or British readers (Adiga was educated in the U.S. and England, and has written for Time and The Financial Times), I would think he'd help us out a bit more.

Between the Assassinations is not a bad read, as long as you don't go into it expecting a novel.  But if you want to get Adiga's cultural insights and social commentary on modern India, try reading The White Tiger first.