The white tiger - Aravind Adiga

WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2008Balram Halwai is the White
Tiger - the smartest boy in his village. His
family is too poor for him
to afford for him to finish school and he has
to work in a teashop,
breaking coals and wiping tables. But Balram gets
his break when a rich
man hires him as a chauffeur, and takes him to
live in Delhi. The city
is a revelation. As he drives his master to
shopping malls and call
centres, Balram becomes increasingly aware of
immense wealth and
opportunity all around him, while knowing that he
will never be
able to gain access to that world. As Balram broods over
his situation,
he realizes that there is only one way he can become part
of this
glamorous new India - by murdering his master. The White Tiger presents
a raw and unromanticised India, both thrilling and shocking - from the
desperate, almost lawless villages along the Ganges, to the booming
Wild
South of Bangalore and its technology and outsourcing centres. The
first-person confession of a murderer, The White Tiger is as compelling for its subject matter as for the voice of its narrator - amoral, cynical, unrepentant, yet deeply endearing.