Book review: The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

Balram Halwai, the son of a rickshaw-puller born in the "Darkness" of India in a village on the River Ganges, tells his "rags-to-riches" story in a series of letters addressed to Wen Jiabao, the Chinese Premiere who will shortly be visiting Bangalore, to enlighten him about the 'real' India. Balram, now an entrepreneur working in Bangalore, dreamed of escaping his life as he crushed coal and wiped tables in a little teashop where he worked with his brother. Balram's "rags-to-riches" story, however, is not an honest one - it swarms with tales of corruption, murder and bribery. He smashes the cliches as he goes and paints a picture of the darker side of this "New India" that the whole world is talking about.

Aravind Adiga's protagonist is everything an anti-hero should be: satirical, quick-witted, with a dark and self-mocking sense of humour...but try as I might, I could not bring myself to like Balram. There's something quite disturbing about Balram: despite the fact that he is often victimised or that he shares his deepest, darkest thoughts with the reader, you never quite feel comfortable with his character.

The White Tiger is a clever piece of work, and very readable once you get past the slow beginning. At the same time, it's not a particularly imaginative or creative story. You learn at the beginning that Balram, now an enterpreneur working in Bangalore, is wanted for murdering his employer Mr Ashok for whom he was a driver. There is no real twist in the storyline - this is pretty much all that happens: we learn about his life leading up to the murder and why he murdered Mr. Ashok. That's it. The narrative voice is not always convincing; for example, it is not made clear how, or when, exactly Balram became so learned. One could say that, apart from Balram himself, the characters are quite 2D, but for such an angry satire Adiga's sharp caricatures are perfect. It's a satire which works very well, but if Adiga's aim is to overturn cliches about India - surely this has become a cliche in itself? And is it just me, or has there been more Indian Booker Prize winners than the world really needs?

The White Tiger is still a good read, although a little too hyped up and not quite a balanced novel.