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A review by lorna_harrison
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

4.0

A compelling dive into Indian class culture and corruption. This is the story of a servant who manages to break out of the Rooster Coop by becoming a "servant, philosopher, entrepreneur and murdered..." as trailered on the back of the book. We know fairly early on who he murders but the actual crime doesn't happen until page 280ish. In the meantime you've got to know something of the victim via Balram's point of view 

The structure of the novel is a long letter to the Chinese Prime Minister who is visiting India who has asked to hear from entrepreneurs. Balram gives him a potted life history from school to his current name and business.

It starts off quite light hearted and gets darker as Balram begins to question the Rooster Coop which keeps servants (and all the poor) in line. It is brutal in it's assessment of Indian life and in particular the divide between the rich and the poor / servant classes. It shows that privelge is the problem and not just white privilege. For at least part of the book I had sympathy for his victim as someone trying to break out and help without being able to. He does a good job of not making all privelged people out to be complete monsters. 

Balram isn't a saint either although there is a very good parallel between two similar road accidents and their treatment by his old employers and then subsequently him as an employer. That showed him trying to do some good whilst still using the system to his advantage. A nice touch.

The writing is free flowing and (to a Western eye) reads well although as it is written by an American Indian I suspect it may well be unauthentic to a native Indian. I clearly got Balram's voice in my head as I was reading it.

An enjoyable book which I'm glad I've read. Some food for thought about our own actions towards servants.