Recent reading: Aravind Adiga’s ‘The White Tiger’.
January 21, 2009
The White Tiger -a new adventure in Indian literature
My latest book group choice was Aravind Adiga’s Booker-winning debut The White Tiger. It’s a very intense, colorful and often disturbing tale set out in first-person narrative as a series of letters written (but never sent ) by a self-made entrepreneur called Balram Halwai or just ‘Munna’ by family, who has adopted the nickname ‘The White Tiger’. He imagines himself to be a once-in-a-generation sort of character, like a living analogy of the extremely rare white tigers of India: all the power, stealth, fear, cunning and ruthlessness of a standard Bengal Tiger plus the rarity value of the whiteness. Of course, he thinks India desperately needs him as a new-model Indian who can compete with the world and succeed on his own terms…and, as a bonus, succeed for the greater benefit of India.
During the extended solitary composition sessions for dreaming up these letters to the soon-to-visit Chinese Premier, Balram describes how the Premier needs to see the Light and Dark versions of India in order to do best business, how B. Halwai/The White Tiger can help that happen and of course unfolds his life story as he likes to remember it. This is where some readers can either really get further into the book and love it or start to turn off or feel it isn’t going anywhere. As I see it, the story actually goes in many directions at once, including a fast track to many painful and infuriating experiences, back to the grinding poverty of his home village and scheming grandmother, forward to a long & slow path to getting out of his village and seeing more of his country, then finally ‘upward’ or south though the landscape of the country to get away from his employer’s life and establish his new business life in another Indian city -Bangalore, home of IT entrepreneurs.
For me, this is a very impressive debut novel: full of colourful detail,drama, intense emotions, history of recent india that has so much of its wealth and squalor on show and high personal stakes. The writer has made great use of his own career experience as a Time reporter in India.he bassic narrative structre rmeiedn me of that classic writers guide excerise of writign a letetr to friend/colleague/parent etc about critical issues/to vent a bit but never sending it. The letters become as much journal entries about a life being examined as they are messages to another person having a substantial effect of some kind on the writer’s life. This also suits the intensely egotistical Balram: it’s his story, his way. But it is also one of India’s stories, complemented by the novel author’s own observations and life experiences.
I’m sure The White Tiger will reward multiple re-readings in the future, for many different readers, especially if/as readers increase their theoretical knowledge of India and/or manages to visit the country.I haven’t been to India yet, despite an interest in the country that goes back to fairly early school years, but novels like this make sure the country stays high on my ‘go to next’ travel list.
I look forward to Adiga’s next book.
