The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

I started reading the book “The white Tiger” by Arvind Adiga, this year’s man booker prize winner with lots of expectation.

The more I read the more I was disillusioned.

This was a story of a man from the underprivileged society, he is from Bihar though the author has never mentioned it. In one place it is said that the town laxmangarh, the birth place of the hero of this novel was a few kilometers from Gaya. And Gaya happens to be in Bihar.

The story is about that man whose father was a rickshaw puller and who died of TB without any treatment.

A fact known to all that in villages of India there are no medical facilities, the patients are carried by people to nearby towns or cities where there could be a health centre, so called primary health care unit, where generally no doctors are available. This is true. But the narration in the book fails to describe it in appropriate way.

This was one incident which was detailed but it was not artistically written.


The boy was removed from the school and put in a tea shop from where he goes to Dhanbad (a part of Bihar till recently!) and takes the job of a driver. He then comes with his master to Delhi.

Throughout the book he was very satisfied with his master. Both he and his master were dissatisfied with the corruption of his family(politicians).

He becomes angry with the system and one day kills his master. The motive was not clear. Why he, of all the people, killed his master? I do not understand.

Then he goes to Bangalore starts a transport business and becomes successful.


The book begins and ends with the hero writing a long letter to the prime minister of China on the threshold of his visit to India.

What can I say about this book?

I am very dissatisfied with this book.

I will doubt about any man booker prize from now on.

The book seems written in a hurry. The author tried to create funny situations while describing four great poets of the world-every time telling that he has forgotten the name of the fourth one while forgetting that in between once he has mentioned the name of this fourth poet. I doubt whether the author has read the manuscripts twice.

The book promised to be of a different kind but it fell flat.

The white tiger failed to create any impact.

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