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meganeorcx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Murder, Car accident, Sexism, Misogyny, Death, and Classism
Moderate: Child death, Sexual content, Racial slurs, and Islamophobia
sprucy2427's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Homophobia, Islamophobia, Murder, Sexual content, Slavery, Trafficking, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Car accident, Child death, Classism, and Death
heather_freshparchment's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Murder
Minor: Cursing, Sexism, Islamophobia, Homophobia, Alcohol, Racial slurs, and Classism
tildagustafsson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Classism
Minor: Blood, Bullying, Islamophobia, and Animal death
lasunflower's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Car accident and Murder
Minor: Alcoholism, Excrement, Infidelity, and Islamophobia
c_dmckinney's review against another edition
- 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
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