The White Tiger
The White Tiger is the life story of Balram Halwai, a young man from India's poor, rural area -- which he calls "The Darkness" — who becomes first a driver for a wealthy family and then, with one violent act, an independent entrepreneur. Told in one long letter to the president of China on the eve of his visit to Bangalore, Balram's tale is at once both fascinating, moving, and unsettling.
Quote:
"He read me another poem, and another one - and he explained the true history of poetry, which is a kind of secret, a magic known only to wise men. Mr. Premier, I won't be saying anything new if I say that the history of the world is the history of a ten-thousand-year war of brains between the rich and the poor. Each side is eternally trying to hoodwink the other side: and it has been this way since the start of time."
Author:
Avarind Adiga grew up in Mangalore, India and is the author of The White Tiger and Last Man in Tower. His work has appeared in the Times of India, The New Yorker, the Sunday Times, the Financial Times, and The New Yorker.
Published: 2008
Length: 320 pages
Set in: New Delhi and Bangalore, India