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The White Tiger Aravind Adiga Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group |
The winner of 2009 Man Booker Prize, White Tiger is widely reviewed and Aravind Adiga’s first novel. The story captivates and flows. After a few chapters, I decided that it does not fit any genre. Mr. Adiga skillfully mixed rags-to-rich, coming-of-age, Indian cultural, social classes struggle, or even murder/suspense. Balram’s growth, education, struggles, and decisions felt real and touching.
I have been to India, Bangalore in particular, a few times. I have many Indian friends and work with even more. Aravind’s India feels real and brought back many memories from my years living in China. The slums, open sewage, the very poor, and the struggle just to survive are all very similar. The paragraph quoted in the beginning seems to be the key difference between China and India. Most Chinese pursue self autonomy zealously, maybe a bit too much.
The other one being the parliamentary democracy. During my years in China, I gradually developed the philosophy that democracy is a hindrance to progress for poor countries. Only until the GDP per capita has reached a certain level should they democratize. Good thing I never studied political science and have no need to prove this philosophy to be right.
I always cringe on English books or movies on China. The linguistic barrier forces all points to be shallow, to a Chinese. I don’t know how would Indians feel about this book. It certainly resonates more for those who know a bit about India. Its sales record indicates the popularity among non-Indians, just like Slumdog Millionaire.
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