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lasunflower's review against another edition
dark
funny
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Read for Storygraph's Read the World 2022 Challenge: India
Book review contain spoilers - I have tried to hide the biggest ones.
This book was an interesting read: I enjoyed Adiga's commentary on 21st Century India. Through the character of Balram, a man from rural India, Adiga explores the issues of India's modernisation and place in the world and the affects on the traditions of India, such as class/caste and corruption through satire.
Balram is an interesting character as he embodies the rural lower classes of India - the struggle in lifting yourself out of poverty and how the social and familial structures make it difficult to do so. The book poses several questions: does individualism benefit Indian society and individual people? What would one sacrifice in order to gain a better economic life?
As an character, however, Balram is difficult to relate to due to Adiga's satirical tone. Balram is a character through which the reader can gain an insight into Adiga's views on the class issues, but not a character that is likeable in his own right despite the first-person narrative. Balram, though he embodies a class of people struggling out of poverty and whom will do all that it takes to do so, is more a commentator on Indian society rather than someone the reader can relate to.
In particular his view of women (as a female reader) was off putting. The women in the novel are reduced to minor characters - either annoying maternal characters in the case of Balram's grandmother, or most often sexual objects. The main characters who do have a space in the book to give their insight are male and misogynistic, the women of India are not given a voice. It is difficult to know how much of this was ironic/satirical/making a point, and even if this was the case, the women are utilised by Adiga as material objects - to enable Adiga to exhibit (male) greed, corruption and individualism in modern India.
I found I could relate more with Ashok (Balram's master) than Balram himself and poses an interesting partial parallel to Balram.Ashok's tension with corruption poses interesting questions on individualism - suggesting that corruption (in Ashok's case), is a necessary evil for him to maintain his family's status and wealth, despite the obvious damage it does to the people lowest in society. Balram's murder of Ashok is a criticism of this emerging philosophy in Indian society (of course imported from western ideas on capitalism), suggesting that one must be dreadfully cruel to everyone around them to climb the social/economic ladder in India. Balram has the initiative to do all it takes, and is quite happy to do so - Ashok on the other hand exhibits remorse when he is encouraged to bribe the government, though of course he does so anyway.
Book review contain spoilers - I have tried to hide the biggest ones.
This book was an interesting read: I enjoyed Adiga's commentary on 21st Century India. Through the character of Balram, a man from rural India, Adiga explores the issues of India's modernisation and place in the world and the affects on the traditions of India, such as class/caste and corruption through satire.
Balram is an interesting character as he embodies the rural lower classes of India - the struggle in lifting yourself out of poverty and how the social and familial structures make it difficult to do so. The book poses several questions: does individualism benefit Indian society and individual people? What would one sacrifice in order to gain a better economic life?
As an character, however, Balram is difficult to relate to due to Adiga's satirical tone. Balram is a character through which the reader can gain an insight into Adiga's views on the class issues, but not a character that is likeable in his own right despite the first-person narrative. Balram, though he embodies a class of people struggling out of poverty and whom will do all that it takes to do so, is more a commentator on Indian society rather than someone the reader can relate to.
In particular his view of women (as a female reader) was off putting. The women in the novel are reduced to minor characters - either annoying maternal characters in the case of Balram's grandmother, or most often sexual objects. The main characters who do have a space in the book to give their insight are male and misogynistic, the women of India are not given a voice. It is difficult to know how much of this was ironic/satirical/making a point, and even if this was the case, the women are utilised by Adiga as material objects - to enable Adiga to exhibit (male) greed, corruption and individualism in modern India.
I found I could relate more with Ashok (Balram's master) than Balram himself and poses an interesting partial parallel to Balram.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident and Murder
Minor: Alcoholism, Excrement, Infidelity, and Islamophobia
c_dmckinney's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Racism
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Bullying
Minor: Child death, Death of parent, Death, Infidelity, Vomit, Violence, Sexual content, Islamophobia, Colonisation, and Car accident
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