If you love this book or love other creations of Adiga, please kindly avoid this review. This is down right disappointing and i have nothing good to say.
Bought this book in a whim, to be my travel companion in a recent journey outside town. But i never got a chance to turn the pages then. My live companions were so lively and consuming; boredom was kept at bay. And i am grateful for that. :)
Anyway, i read this book later in my leisure. Realising that this creation was bestowed with Man Booker Prize in 2008 and good words adorning every corner of its cover, i read it with enthusiasm. My sole purpose being able to enjoy the words and story that millions thought worthy to devour.
Few pages in and i thought - wow! its like slum dog millionaire, the movie. It will get interesting in the middle. Reached the middle and i was trying to swallow the dark humor that bore hole through me and haunted my conscience, but still continued with a blazing hope that it will get better in the end. End came but the wow moment did not and i was thoroughly disappointed.
Balram Halwai, self proclaimed "The White Tiger" and a common Indian man born in darkness, writes a letter to Mr Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Premier, explaining his rise to his current status- A businessman. He explains with gut and a glint in his eyes like that of a mad man, how he escaped the darkness of his birth, following the regular ritual of a common man. Flight of idea impregnates his thoughts and he writes about his journey from a simple worker in a teashop to a driver then a businessman. He describes his fears, his fight, his flight and how he became a murderer.
I neither found this book to be blazing brilliant or arresting. This book is a black humor describing the dark side of modern Indian society. A desperate attempt to shine the light in the corrupted parts with depressing details that plunges you to misery. Satirical indeed but I think you wont miss anything if you let this book slip unnoticed in your to-be-read list. You can skip this one without guilt and avoid the boredom and nothingness.
I sound heartless making this review but it is what it is!
Bought this book in a whim, to be my travel companion in a recent journey outside town. But i never got a chance to turn the pages then. My live companions were so lively and consuming; boredom was kept at bay. And i am grateful for that. :)
Anyway, i read this book later in my leisure. Realising that this creation was bestowed with Man Booker Prize in 2008 and good words adorning every corner of its cover, i read it with enthusiasm. My sole purpose being able to enjoy the words and story that millions thought worthy to devour.
Few pages in and i thought - wow! its like slum dog millionaire, the movie. It will get interesting in the middle. Reached the middle and i was trying to swallow the dark humor that bore hole through me and haunted my conscience, but still continued with a blazing hope that it will get better in the end. End came but the wow moment did not and i was thoroughly disappointed.
Balram Halwai, self proclaimed "The White Tiger" and a common Indian man born in darkness, writes a letter to Mr Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Premier, explaining his rise to his current status- A businessman. He explains with gut and a glint in his eyes like that of a mad man, how he escaped the darkness of his birth, following the regular ritual of a common man. Flight of idea impregnates his thoughts and he writes about his journey from a simple worker in a teashop to a driver then a businessman. He describes his fears, his fight, his flight and how he became a murderer.
I neither found this book to be blazing brilliant or arresting. This book is a black humor describing the dark side of modern Indian society. A desperate attempt to shine the light in the corrupted parts with depressing details that plunges you to misery. Satirical indeed but I think you wont miss anything if you let this book slip unnoticed in your to-be-read list. You can skip this one without guilt and avoid the boredom and nothingness.
I sound heartless making this review but it is what it is!
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