The White Tiger

Thank you participating in this month’s online book discussion. I hope you enjoyed The White Tiger as much as I did. If you didn’t have a chance to read the book and participate, please feel free to post your thoughts at a later time. The discussion will remain online in the Reader’s Den and hopefully, others will read the book and join in, as well.

Join us next month for our discussion on Kathleen Kent's historical fiction novel, The Heretic's Daughter. Request the novel online or visit your local library branch!

~Lynda P.

In his novel, Adiga highlights the dichotomy between the rich and the poor. He discusses the poorer Indian peoples' subservient relationship with their rich masters and their reluctance to rebel against the establishment because of ingrained and learned beliefs passed down from generation to generation. The rooster coop reflects the desperate existence of the poor in India and the perpetual power of the rich to manipulate the system to suit their needs. "Hundreds of pale hens and brightly colored roosters, stuffed tightly into wire-mesh cages, packed as tightly as worms in a belly, pecking each other, jostling for breathing space; the whole cage giving off a horrible stench--the stench of terrified, feathered flesh. On the wooden desk above his coop sits a grinning young brother, showing off the flesh and organs of a recently chopped-up chicken, still oleaginous with a coating of dark blood. The roosters in the coop smell the blood from above. They see the organs of their brothers lying around them. They know they're next. Yet they do not rebel. They do not try to get out of the coop" (p.147).

What is Balram's perspective on how and why the Rooster Coop works?

To what extent is the narrator finally able to break this obedience to tradition?

~Lynda P.

Early on in the novel, we learn that Balram is a successful businessman in Bangalore and an extremely complex character. In his first letter to the Chinese premier, he writes "my country is the kind where it pays to play it both ways: the Indian entrepreneur has to be straight and crooked, mocking and believing, sly and sincere, at the same time." What are your thoughts about Balram? Is he a psychopath?

Sudheer Apte, a reviewer for Mostly Fiction Book Reviews, wrote, "the most enjoyable part of this novel is the richly observed world of the have-nots in India: the flocks of drivers hanging out by their vehicles outside air-conditioned buildings, waiting for their masters to summon them, the beggars at traffic stops, who get money mostly from the poor; the petty manipulations among the servants of the house. This is the view most missing from so many Indian novels with a middle class sensibility" (Mostly Fiction Book Reviews). If it is one thing Adiga captures in his novel, is the division between the "haves" and "the have-nots" and how both sides are corrupt and manipulating the other in their own way. Because of his circumstances as a servant in India, do you feel Balram was justified in committing murder as a means to an end? Do our circumstances in life ultimately decide who we are?

Hopefully, you were able to get yourself a copy of The White Tiger and are enjoying the novel as much as I did. Here are a few questions to think about:

Why is Balram addressing his letters to the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabo? What is his intention in writing these letters?

In the first chapter, Balram describes himself as "a thinking man" and "a man of action." Do you agree or disagree? What examples do we see that he is both?

What is the significance of the title, The White Tiger?

~Lynda P.

Welcome to the Reader's Den! This month's online book discussion will be The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga. Feel free to participate and make comments.

Aravind Adiga was born in Madras, India in 1974. In high school, he and his family immigrated to Australia. Later, he studied at Columbia and Oxford Universities and published his first novel, The White Tiger, in 2008. The White Tiger received the Man Booker prize for 2008, an esteemed accomplishment for a first time author. Adiga was also a correspondent for Time magazine and has also written for the Financial Times, the Independent and the Sunday Times.

The White Tiger tells the story of a young Indian man named Balram Halwai, who makes it of the "darkness" by brutally killing his rich master. The story takes place over the course of seven days while Balram, the son of a poor rickshaw puller from a small village in Bihar India, writes daily letters to the Premier of China, Wen Jiabao. In these letters, Balram tells his deepest, darkest secrets and how he came to be an entrepreneurial success. We learn that Balram murdered his master, Ashok and stole a great deal of money in order to get where he is today. He justifies his wrongdoings by rationalizing that it is the unfairness of the Indian society that forced him to do it. Told in a sardonic wit, The White Tiger will make you laugh, while also revealing the corruption of both the rich and the poor and give readers a look at the many sides of modern Indian life.

Reserve your copy of The White Tiger through The New York Public Library Catalog or at your local branch. The discussion will take place over the next four weeks. I look forward to hearing from all of you!

Lynda P.

Thank you for joining this month's Reader's Den. I hope everyone enjoyed The Gathering, or at least got something out of the discussion. Please stay tuned for next month's book, The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga.
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