Aravind Adiga: The White Tiger

2008 winner of The Man Booker Prize

A book of considerable literary merit but at the same time a real pageturner. It offers a picture of modern India that is as evocative as it is unflattering. The protagonist is a diminutive, overweight ex-teashop worker who now earns his living as a chauffeur while also dealing in confidence scams and over-ambitious business promotions built on the shakiest of foundations. But is he also a murderer? The story of the amoral man at the centre of this fascinating narrative is what keeps the reader comprehensively gripped, but perhaps the real achievement of the book is in its picture of two Indias: the bleak, soul-destroying poverty of village life and the glittering prizes to be found in the big city.

320 pages