THE WHITE TIGER

REVIEW BY AHMAD QARI | posted October 9, 2008 | permalink
8 Comments

author:
ARAVIND ADIGA

Fiction
304 pages
Free Press

How to get on the Booker Prize shortlist in six easy steps:

First-time novelist? Check.
First-person narrative? Check.
Ethnic background? Check.
Story about up-and-coming developing country? Check.
Outré protagonist? Check.
Class warfare? Check.

If it isn’t clear already, I am very cynical about Aravind Adiga’s debut novel The White Tiger. Adiga, a journalist by trade, probably felt he was writing an important book. Vindication duly came in the form of being short-listed for this year’s Booker Prize. Adiga may well win the prize, announced on October 14th. On this evidence, though, I am not even sure how this novel made the shortlist.

Striving to paint an honest picture of modern India, the novel concerns Balram, servant and chauffeur to the rich and influential Mr. Ashok. The struggle between the class that Balram and generations past of his family have belonged to and the upper class that his master belongs to are the central focus of the book. Balram is trying to break free of this perpetual servitude but Adiga doesn’t hold out much hope for Balram or his kind; indeed, the only way for him to become his own man seems to be by resorting to crime.

The novel has some very basic problems. The writing, while competent enough, smacks of Creative Writing 101. The plot is interesting at first but hopelessly predictable later on. Some insight is gained into an India that answers our American phone calls when we call the bank, cell phone-company or even a tow truck. But it all comes together, or rather falls apart, in a hodgepodge of clever references and topical mentions of techie buzzwords. And on top of that, the book’s main gimmick (and conceit) is that this confessional is addressed in a series of late-night epistles to the Chinese prime minister. It’s as if Adiga felt he had to squeeze the Chinese in there somehow and could think of no other way to do it.

As a person of Indian descent myself, I may well look askance at books such as this, with their sprinkling of italicized native language words and outsider-but-an-insider viewpoint on Western culture. It could be said that I am not meant to be part of the audience for this book—that it was written for Western eyes. But forget literary prizes, audiences and all that. Any decent novel requires a good yarn and great characters that reward deeper delving. This book has neither.

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small_dots_508 THE WHITE TIGER

Comments

8 Responses to “THE WHITE TIGER”

Kate on October 9th, 2008 5:03 pm

I am intrigued! Can’t wait to read this.
Steve on October 9th, 2008 5:29 pm

I couldn’t disagree with this review more. “The White Tiger” is one of the best novels I’ve read in the last year. It reminded me, sometimes overtly and sometimes with more subtlety, of “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison. Its place on the Booker shortlist is much deserved. I’m a bookseller who has recommended this book to many people and so far no one has been disappointed.
Kate on October 9th, 2008 8:58 pm

Actually I didn’t mean that sarcastically – sometimes negative reviews can drive sales as much as positive ones, I suppose. But this review makes me curious about reading The White Tiger from the point of view of a Western reader, as Mr Qari points out, to form my own opinions of it. As a person who hasn’t read much from what seems to be a sudden influx of Indian writers in the market I’m interested in how I’ll react to it, having read both positive and negative reviews of the book.
Ahmad on October 10th, 2008 7:03 am

In response to Steve, I can see why you compared this book somewhat to Invisible Man. Some of the caste struggles of India (which aren’t overtly mentioned in White Tiger) could be analogous to race struggles here in the United States, and of course the invisibility of the class that Balram belongs to is the obvious parallel with Ellison’s book. My problem with the comparison is that nowhere in White Tiger do I see the kind of metaphor and symbolism that Ellison used to such great effect in Invisible Man. It has been a long time since I read Invisible Man though, so I may not be seeing all the parallels you might see. I felt this book was just not written all that well and I didn’t care about the main character and felt the other characters were very weakly drawn (although that might have been the author’s intention in giving us Balram’s outlook, but if so, it makes me think even less of Balram). The story itself I will admit had interesting elements, but again I didn’t feel them coming together as a satisfying whole. Perhaps it is just one of those polarizing books.
Stuart on October 10th, 2008 1:33 pm

Ahmad, I’ve heard very few (in fact yours is the first) negative opinions of this excellent debut novel. Balram, to my mind, is an intriguing, unusual and inspired creation, while the writing is far too subtle, too nuanced to be described as Creative Writing 101.

While The White Tiger is far from a perfect novel, your analysis of its failings are neither conclusive, nor persuasive – almost as though you decided before picking it up that you were going to dislike it. I hope that isn’t the case, but that’s how it seems.

Oh and by the way, those six easy steps? Doesn’t sound like many Booker novels to me, I’m afraid.
Ahmad on October 10th, 2008 9:43 pm

Stuart, thanks for your considered comments. There aren’t very many negative reviews of this novel out there, agreed, but I’m sure you wouldn’t want a reviewer that just follows the consensus of opinion on a book. The review as I wrote it is what I honestly felt on finishing the novel. As for judging the book beforehand, actually, I was expecting fully to like the book after reading a review of it in the Economist (a magazine I trust implicitly when it comes to reviews) and seeing that it was shortlisted. I expected it to be good. Some of my disappointment in finding this not to be the case is clear in my review.

And I employed a slightly gimmicky beginning, catching people’s attention etcetera, and perhaps that’s not fair to the Booker. I should have said prize winners in general, but good point there. Couple of books off the top of my head that I can think of though that I see some parallels (seems to be my favourite word right now, parallels):

Brick Lane by Monica Ali, shortlisted in ‘03, a very good novel
The Impressionist by Hari Kunzru, an excellent novel about race and class in colonial India, which wasn’t shortlisted for the Booker but won another prize, I think the Somerset Maugham. This particular novel actually had a very interesting, unique protagonist and writing that managed to be subtle while incorporating various elements of race, class and history. If you liked White Tiger, you’ll probably love this.
Stuart on October 13th, 2008 8:31 am

Both Brick Lane and The Impressionist (both of which I’ve read) have wildly different agendas, viwepoints, themes and concerns than the White Tiger. The Impressionist is a bawdy romp through colonial history; The White Tiger is resolutely a novel about contemporary India. The only similarity is that they are written by people of Indian extraction. And as for Brick Lane – now that is a novel for which creative writing 101 was made for…

Obviously you’re entitled to your opinion, and god forbid you should have to follow the critical crowd, but I can’t agree with your findings in this one. That said, I’m glad you wrote what you did as it forced me back to the novel to see whether you’d seen something that I’d missed. I don’t think so, but I could be wrong.
Ryan on October 15th, 2008 2:00 pm

Nice to read a different perspective on the book with all the Booker hoopla around it. Out of curiosity, is there a commonwealth title that you feel should have won? I haven’t read Netherland yet, but it seems to be the most favorably reviewed title this year.