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The White Tiger | 
 enlarge | Author: Aravind Adiga
Creator: John Lee
Publisher: Tantor Media
Category: Book
List Price: $69.99
Buy New: $44.15
You Save: $25.84 (37%)
New (12) from $44.15
Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Format: Audiobook, Cd
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 7
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 6.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 1400136652
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.92
EAN: 9781400136650
ASIN: 1400136652
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: SHIPS from 5 locations based on your Zip Code and availability! (PA TN IN OR SC) *-* Gift Quality *-* Orders Processed Immediately! - We get your book to you Very Quickly! -L2353.63322
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Product Description
Set in a raw and unromanticized India, The White Tiger---the first-person confession of a murderer---is as compelling for its subject matter as it is for the voice of its narrator: amoral, cynical, unrepentant, yet deeply endearing.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Brilliant first novel! July 16, 2008
Someone actually gave this book two stars which is stingy at best. Another likened it to the shoe-gazing efforts of Dave Eggers which it most certainly is not. Someone else likened it to M. M. Kaye and Vikram Seth - the only thing they have in common is the language it is written in ...
I won't go into the plot which was well thought out and executed. The writing is as edgy as the ideas. I'm looking forward to the second novel. Well done Arvind - another brilliant voice from the sub-continent!
Dear Mr Premier, there are some things about India you should know... July 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is Balram Halwai's story written as an ongoing letter to the Premier of China to advise him about the real India; the one he probably won't see on his forthcoming visit. In fact, it is Balram's own story of how he overcame poverty and became an `entrepreneur'. If this sounds like a story of poor boy does well, forget it. This is a story of dog eat dog, "straight and crooked, mocking and believing, sly and sincere". It's very funny, yet as you laugh, you realise there is more truth than fiction although you're left wondering how much.
Called "Munna" (boy) by his parents, his father a rickshaw-puller and his mother ill and dying, he is given the name Balram on his first day of school. Learning how to fend for himself became Balram's best education; listening and eavesdropping on others taught him the rest. Working in a tea room, and then managing to become a taxi-driver and from there chauffeur, he kept his ear to the ground, listened, learned, manipulated and schemed. From small village to seething city of Delhi, Balram yearns to escape the yoke of `nobody'. From his nickname "White Tiger", he starts to realise just how long he and those like him have been captives of India's political system. How will it ever be possible for him escape the cage of poverty? All the other chauffeurs with whom he associates spend their time reading Murder Weekly; will the White Tiger have to resort to this level, or will blood be spilt and the cage doors open? All is revealed as Balram continues writing to the Chinese Premier. This is a book you won't forget in a hurry.
Ehalivan 2 June 30, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I am a product of Indian subcontinent. When I was young, I learned Mahabarata, Ramayana and other stories from Tamil Nadu. Throughout, Indian history, the rulers of the continent at any time didn't have the ability to recognize the "White Tigers" among them. Ehalivan from Mahabarata comes to mind and in the South, Nanthanar's story is another example of a "White Tiger". Aravind Adiga's "White Tiger" is a powerful novel and it highlights the main weakness of an otherwise creative civilization. Well done, Mr. Aravind Adiga!
Four Thumbs Up June 7, 2008
Hilarious, moving, smart, captivating. Like other reviewers here, I read slowly, hoping it wouldn't end.
My favorite quality: the consistent smartness and edginess in each line. It's hard to write a comic novel that's funny from start to finish, but Adiga succeeds. Incredibly, it's also social commentary.
A Voice Like Dave Eggers May 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Great fiction writing is like acting and directing at the same time. The novelist needs to create believable personalities, original voices, and plot. The character that Adiga created here, Balram the servant cum businessman, speaks in an original voice that sounds lyrical, devilish, believable.
On the surface, the novel is a 250+ page letter from Balram to a visiting Chinese diplomat. On the micro-level of words and sentences, Adiga comes up with original character development that convinces the reader we have blood and flesh. Yet it's fiction. The story is a study in character, and character development seems to be Adiga's main strength. The story's plot and setting rests on Adiga's firm background as a journalist covering India for Time magazine. Adiga is familiar with both the poor and new India, and in the novel he contrasts the two societies to great effect. In the end, it's the conflict between these two societies that is the crux of the story: "Dark" and "Light" India are constantly at war, yet the two extremes also seem to share certain values. In the novel, both the rich and the poor are corrupt, resort to bribery, sleep with prostitutes, cheat, lie, steal -- and even murder -- to get to the top. In the end, this comparing and contrasting of values is what this book is about.
As an aid to character development, Adiga gives animal nicknames to the rich landlords that serve as supporting characters. Given that the poor in India tend to be illiterate and relate to people and things according to their environment more than through academic means, animal nicknames seemed like an ingenious character development ploy. The novel is filled with little elements like this that work well.
At the end of the novel (after Balram kills his master and becomes the narrating entrepreneur of the story) the plot tends to wrap up rather quickly (I will not give it away here); however, although it wraps up quickly, it is a satisfying ending because it completes the theme of the book, which is the contrast and similarities in values between the rich and poor in India.
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