The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

[Drunk Monk]

Always keep a friend in the book biz. They kick down books and that's always a good thing. I never would have picked this book up unless Harold hadn't passed me an advanced reader's copy.

White Tiger is a good read, especially if you're not familiar with the caste system and/or India. Presented as a series of letters written to the Chinese president, it's the confession of the servant who murders his master (that's not a spoiler since the book opens with this). The fact that the servant is such an eloquent writer is totally implausible, but many of the descriptions of poverty and corruption are excellent commentary. It's a terrifying notion that could bring India to it's knees someday - a revolution from the lower castes.

It's the first fiction I've read in a spell, unless you count Harry Potter.

[Drunk Monk]

...y'all so wish you could be as hip as DM, able to seek out brilliant new literature way ahead of the pack. It's a gift, a God given gift. Just read what DM reads and you'll be the coolest at all the cocktail parties...

Aravind Adiga wins literature's Man Booker prize
By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, October 14, 2008

(10-14) 18:28 PDT LONDON, United Kingdom (AP) --

Aravind Adiga won the prestigious Man Booker award Tuesday for his first novel "The White Tiger."

Adiga won the $87,000 prize for his book about a protagonist who will use any means necessary to fulfill his dream of escaping impoverished village life for success in the big city.

At 34, Adiga was the youngest of the finalists for the literary prize.

The chairman of the judges, Michael Portillo, said the book was an impressive work.

"The novel is in many ways perfect. It is quite difficult to find any structural flaws with it," he said.

Some have accused Adiga, who lives in Mumbai, of painting a negative picture of modern India and its huge underclass. But Adiga said he wanted to write about all aspects of Indian society.

"In India if you really want to get out and do a book you have to make a conscious effort to connect to people in every conceivable way, " he told the British Broadcasting Corp. after winning the prize.

Adiga is the fourth Indian-born author to win the prize, and joins compatriots Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai. A fifth winner, V.S. Naipaul is of Indian ancestry.

The other authors short-listed for the prize were Steve Toltz, Sebastian Barry, Amitav Ghosh, Linda Grant, and Philip Hensher.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...01&sc=1000