Monday, May 25, 2009

WHITE TIGER

I was in two minds on writing a review on this book written by Aravind Adiga .This was mainly because I wasn’t too sure about whether I liked the book or not and more importantly It took me some time to have an opinion on this book.The author won the booker prize for the book in the year 2008 and had received mixed responses from readers. One section saying that it was anti-india and the other saying that the book was brilliantly written. To be honest, I brought this book to hate it(well , you cannot like or hate a book without reading it ,can you?)mainly because I hate these anti India , image bashing books/movies or anything remotely conveying the same.

The author, Aravind adiga, completed his school education in India and then emigrated to Australia for further studies and then going on to become a journalist of very good reputation. This is his first book and I have to say that the Adiga’s style of writing is intense, sarcastic and is hard hitting(infact cude)and I really liked his narrative .Having mentioned that, I did not like the content and feel that its just another attempt by an Indian writer to play to the gallery of the western audience.

The story is set in one of the Indian villages where the protagonist, Balram halwai takes us through his life . Infact the story is set as a series of letters being sent to the Chinese premier by Balram where he is telling us his entire story ;how he started off in a tea shop and then his rise as an entrepreneur in Bangalore.He even expresses his thoughts on the Indian caste system and the corruption in the political levels.

The book touches a lot of detail about the Indian society and I am not sure how Adiga manages to do that. For someone who has spent a major chunk of his life outside India, I am doubting the authenticity of the details/situations he has mentioned( admitted that all characters are fictious and blah blah ..but then still).Though I really like his style of writing, I have to say that whatever Adiga has written only reinforces the West’s idea of India. Maybe he was just trying to sell his book ! (And unfortunately I see another Slumdog millionare in the making.) For example, Adiga talks about Indian Gods and religions which many may find degrading.Sample this extract from the novel :- “I guess, Your Excellency, that I too should start off by kissing some god's arse. Which god's arse, though? There are so many choices. See, the Muslims have one god. The Christians have three gods. And we Hindus have 36,000,000 gods. Making a grand total of 36,000,0004 divine arses for me to choose from". The novel is filled with such takes on different aspects of Indian society.

Cultural and religious differences is what makes India .Somebody ought tell Mr.Adiga that even if he dosen’t think too much about those Gods, there are some many others who do! Women is this novel are limited only to mere objects of desire and left to be used for the obvious.

In one of his interviews I believe, Adiga has stated “At a time when India is going through great changes and, with China, is likely to inherit the world from the West, it is important that writers like me try to highlight the brutal injustices of society (Indian). That's what I'm trying to do -- it is not an attack on the country, it's about the greater process of self-examination.”

I classify the above mentioned as a marketing gimmick and nothing more than that.What self examination is he talking about? Infact in the book , the protagonist is a murderer and at the end becomes a successful entrepreneur. Is Adiga implying that to become a successful entrepreneur in India, one has to be crooked,sly,with no values and last but not the least, a murderer? I do not know what Azima premji, or Ratan Tata would have to say to that.Taking a moral high ground is easy but if he really means what he writes, then he should get down and start working for the same.

My honest review of the book is :- Read it because it won the booker prize and for the style of Adiga’s writing which is refreshingly new. But do not read it for the literary content.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Ro..I got the book yesterday from one of my friends.Haven't started reading it yet though ..will update the comments section again as soon as I finsih it.But agree with you on Adiga's comments on self-examination being just a marketing gimmick.

007 said...

taken a while for this post ?I thought u went in to hibernation or something;)

da..again a very good post.I dint like the style of writing either..I felt that Adiga was trying to be the anti hero through Balram.But you hit the nail on its head..he was just trying to sell the book ..sell the idea that the west has about india.Adiga talks about corruption in political levels..Which country in teh world is free of coruption in its political levels? The book is full of hypocrisy.

Unknown said...

Rohite..I knew the minute you brought that book,that you would let it rip one way or the other.. :)

I loved your post on slumdog millionare and I love this one too simply for the fact that the write up has conveyed very strong emotions.I am not much of a book man so can't realy comment on the book.

Rohit said...

@swapna

Let me know your thoughts on it once you finish the book. But you know wut swapna, knowing you, I am sure you would come up with the "Rohit, I think you are over reacting a bit here" kind of reply ..hahaaa :) But am eager to know your thoughts..

@Anand

Ya da ..hibernation of sorts..
Anti hero is the exact word.I am glad that you agree with me .

@Vinod

Thanks for your comment.only hope that they dont make another movie out of this though

Protik Basu said...

I agree with the fact that the book takes a somewhat simplistic view of things and is at times crude...but i also think its deliberate given the type of protagonist...

But I also feel that it should not be taken literally...lot of it is written satirically...by no means is the story of an individual symptomatic of a nation and I feel that it should not be read as such...

Another thing I believe in...we should not be ready to jump at anyone who speaks against India, just speaking yr opinion is not anti-patriotic...there are a lot of things that are swept under the carpet as the media marches on in its quest for good news..."God of small things" - is that anti india, or 'midnight children' or for that matter " a million mutinies now"?. The things he speaks about in the book exist...moving out of a few kilometeres out of city limits prove many things that we might not believe sitting in the city and basking being a part of the biggest democracy...let the media not pull wool over our eyes by their glossy covers...when things glitter too much, always look for the muck beneath...

Some books should be read as an authors prespective and nothing more...

Also, a reminder - in india, crime pays especially when you do it in a big enough way...reliance is the best example...do we kid ourselves in any other way?

Rohit said...

Thanks for your comment protik and also for following the blog..appreciate it :)

I agree that speaking your opinion is not anti-patriotic and that some books should be read as an authors perspective and nothing more than that. What I am irritated is with the thought that even after all these years, the way india is percieved and even more irritated at teh thought that if anyone tries to sell this image of India, it becomes hugely successful.

Agreed that there may be situations in the book which are true but again India surely is not restricted to that alone.There is more to India than poverty, injustice and corruption. For that matter there is an underbelly in every country, there are grosser realities in every other country.I would have been more haper had adiga not commented about his book being on the greater process of self examintaion because it isint ..its just that that particular idea sells making his book sellable.

Swapna Raghu Sanand said...

Hi Rohit,

I loved reading your review because those were my exact thoughts on the book. What we as Indian readers look for is for a writer to present to us an India that has more to it than poverty, ugliness, starvation deaths and so on.

I read the book several times to understand it better. I admired Adiga's brilliant writing style. I think it was amazing.

Also, I understood after several readings that the perspectives are of an ambitious driver, whose view of India is not a complete one.

The entire story is narrated through an uneducated driver's perspective. His language is crude, his approach to money is one of greed, his curiosity and greed to become something higher than his caste, these do not define today's typical Indian like you and I.

What I think Adiga tried to do was craft a perspective of India through an uneducated, ambitious man's eyes. In that context, his writing technique was brilliant because it was a risky literary experiment, one that first time writers would have thought twice before attempting.

That effort and attention to detail is really commendable. Here, I am talking about the writer's technique in plot, characterization and telling a story based on that central character.

Indian writers, like film makers and singers, cannot keep aloof from marketing their books to their best advantage. For decades, writers like Anita Desai kept away from doing that. In fact, in a visit to Delhi, she mentioned to those of us who were gathered there that she was surprised how today's writers are so good at marketing their work because she had never done that with any of her books. Her strategy was to write the book, publish it and move on to writing her next novel.

Today's writers know that big fortunes can be made so they market themselves even if they are mediocre writers. They host page 3 parties to launch their novels. This new era of Indian writers are poised to steal the limelight and the big money. If they dont do that, they wont find a publisher for their next book no matter how well they write. They need the publicity to stay alive in public minds.

My interactions with David Adiga forbid me to believe he pursued a marketing gimmick. His approach to writing and literary techniques is far superior to any writers I've known in recent times. Perhaps if I had not known this in person, I too may have thought the book is built on marketing gimmicks to sell a poverty stricken India. Having been in touch with this great writer, David Adiga, I know better now and wanted to share my thoughts with you as well.

Keep writing more posts. As I said, its really a good, thought provoking post.