This is an enticing glimpse into another slice of life. The hero is sympathetic and engaging and yet as the consequences of his actions play out he changes and becomes increasingly alienated. A great read. ( )

This book being one of those intensely love it/hate it ones, and having raised quite a controversy when it won the Booker, I made an effort to reserve my judgment until the very last page. It never redeemed itself, though. A plot out of a cheap thriller, and banal writing. And if it was supposed to portray the corruption, the perverse wealth amid overwhelming poverty in India, there are other novels of the same theme which do a much better job than this. A Fine Balance (which was shortlisted but never won the Booker) is one example. ( )

I forgot where I got to know about this book, but I do remember that as soon as I read what it is about I was interested in it right away. A couple of months later I was at the airport waiting for my flight back home, and as I always do I stopped at the bookstore. As soon as I went in, the first thing I saw was a huge pile of The White Tiger books, so I obviously had to get it.

Balram Halwai is an Indian entrepreneur. When he hears that Premier Wen Jiabao of China is going to visit his country, Balram decides to tell him about the life in India that he will no doubt not be told about on his visit. That is the life of an entrepreneur coming from a lower caste. In his letter, Balram tells Premier Jiabao about his childhood in poverty, his life in Delhi as a servant to Mr Ashok, how he became a wanted man, and ultimately an entrepreneur in Bangalore.

The journey of Balram to become an entrepreneur brings out the extreme difference between the poor and the rich in India. I found Balram to be quite an interesting character. He hated the people that were corrupt and immoral, and did whatever it takes to get what they wanted, but in the end he too became one of these people. However, the sad thing is that it doesn't seems that there was a clean way of getting out of the rooster coop he was in, there are simply no opportunities for someone that is born in 'the darkness' to free himself. I think this is the message that the author wanted to get across, and he did it by first getting the reader's empathy for Balram, so when his actions become unspeakable you still feel for him and believe that he had to do what he did to gain his freedom. What I thought was quite unsettling was his views on white people, and it makes me wonder if that is a common belief amongst these people. This was an easy and fast read, sometimes being satirical too, even though the topic is not a light one and it raised many questions while I was reading it.

This is the first book I have read about this topic, and although I have watched the movie 'Slumdog Millionaire', I didn't quite understand what it meant to belong to a lower caste in India before I read this book. Of course I also remind myself that this is fiction, but it seems that this has become such a popular topic to write about lately that it feels like these authors want to get a message across. ( )

While I enjoyed reading Adiga's award-winning book, I discovered that I couldn't remember a lot about the story only a few weeks after finishing it. It just wasn't "sticky" for me, to use a Malcolm Gladwell term. Perhaps it's because I know very little about the culture and lifestyles in India. I did, however, enjoy the unique format the author used to spin the tale. ( )

Set in the backstreets of India the tale of boy trying to make it against the odds and expectation. It's told via a series of letters to the Chinese Premier in which the writer tries to expose the "truth" about India as opposed to the view of the country the Premier will be shown on the visit he's about to make.
It works well although I'd had enough of it by the time I'd finished the book, I felt it ran out of new things to say. None the less and interesting structure and an enjyable read. ( )