The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The best thing about this book is the view of India. I don’t know enough to say whether it’s accurate; but it’s different. And it has the feel of truth. The way it resists some stereotypes and embraces others speaks to authenticity. (With one exception.) Because how would you know which was which unless you’d been there? For instance, I never would have known about betel nut spit staining streets and things.
I don’t like where the author decided to have the protagonist end up. It’s like he made a list of corrupt political practices in India. Then he made at least one distinct harm from each of them happen to his protagonist in youth. And then he made his protagonist practice or condone each of them, later in life.
“See,” he’s saying, “my protagonist knows exactly how bad this is. It happened to him. And he does it anyway.”
He describes a sub rosa system of political control that seems almost fantastical to me. This is the exception to the general feeling of authenticity I had about it. Mob bosses threatening to kill the entire extended family of every Indian worker? Really?
That’s not to say it doesn’t tally. It’s internally consistent. If this was a sci-fi world, I would rate the political system as well-constructed. There aren’t any serious inconsistencies or oversights that would cast doubt on it.
I guess it’s that it’s so different from my own experience and political tradition. I wish I could say for sure that it’s made up or exaggerated. But I guess, until I read more, I’ll have to conclude that I don’t know enough to tell.
It’s expedient for the drama. To break away from his past life, Balram has to give up his family. And because of this system, it’s not just that they’re dead to him. They are literally dead.
We know from the beginning that the narrative arc is for Balram to break away from his past. He’s ‘the White Tiger’, set apart from childhood. With heroic effort, he breaks away from poverty. He breaks away from family ties. He breaks away from geographical ties. He breaks through cultural and caste boundaries.
I only wish the author had let him break away from corruption, too.
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