This novel takes the form of a series of letters from "The White Tiger", Balram Halwai, to a Chinese dignatory about to visit Bangalore where Balram is a successful entrepreneur. The format doesn't detract from the fast-moving plot -- I often forgot completely about the faceless Wen Jiabao -- except when he was mentioned again. Mr. Jiabao is a representative for all of the readers who need to have Balram's story explained to them.This novel presents a low-caste, servant's perspective on class and society in India. Balram is a driver for a coal entrepreneur, Mr. Ashok. In cynical, unromanticized and sometimes humorous prose, the author describes the life of the servant class and their masters.At the beginning of the novel, we are told that Balram's rise from abject poverty and servitude to riches and success as a businessman are the result of his killing his master. We later learn that his success is also a product of abandoning his family and bribing the police. He is Horatio Alger's worst nightmare! Balram, like all the other characters, are complex and not easy to like. They are very real people, and that is what drew me deep into this amazing story.read more

There are some interesting ideas and insights in this novel, but, for a Man Booker winner, it's surprisingly conventional in its structure and narration (compare to, say, Ian McEwan or Yann Martel). The author seems to cling very close to the main character's anger and cynicism and this makes for, indeed a "half-baked" story. For instance, twice the narrator refers to the great poet Iqbal's saying "They remain slaves because they can't see what is beautiful in this world" (p. 40 and p. 276), and yet Balram Halwai does not attain anything like this kind of insight in his life. Maybe that's the point -Balram, to survive in India, must become what he loathes. He demonstrates a sensitivity of sorts at times, but his trajectory seems predetermined, repeating the same corrupt practices as his master. As he says at the end, in Bangalore, "It's just that here, if a man wants to be good, he can be good. In Laxmangarh, he doesn't even have this choice. That is the difference between this India and that India: the choice." Yet Balram comes to bangalore and seemingly has no choice but to be not very good at all (p.306). The first half of the book is the better, with its eye for social commentary (e.g. of the lower classes self-policing behaviour - "The coop is guarded from the inside" p.194), but our hero, Balram, well, he isn't a hero really, maybe just a man who wants to be successful and is honest with himself. And "honesty among thieves"? Is he being ironic, or did he just get the phrase wrong ("honour among thieves"). This idea of becoming what you raged against was done so much better by Orwell in Animal Farm (where it was hard to tell man from pig anymore). Overall, a bleak view of modern India. An angry young man's first novel that lacks any real wisdom.read more

I was given this copy by a friend who told me he didn't like it that much. I read it in one gulp. It's not a bad book, and it's certainly no Rushdie or Seth, even though it deals with many of the same issues. Midnight's Children also dealt with the Indian underclass, and so, to an extent, did A Suitable Boy, but in a different way. I wasn't sure of the format of the book, addressing itself to a foreign leader in the form of letters. Is it a good book? That's a different story. It's not really an enjoyable book, but is it a "must-read"? I don't know. I may come back to this review and amend it when I reread the book (which I certainly will, even if I decide not to keep it on my shelves).read more