India

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?

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.

Tottenville Branch had a book discussion last night on The Namesake. It went very well, but wasn’t quite as lively as last month’s discussion of Running With Scissors! The group liked The Namesake, and were sympathetic to the characters, by and large, and their difficulties in adapting to American culture, and being caught between India and the U.S., especially for the second generation character, Gogol, who is the main character of the book. Some of the participants thought he was a bit too laid back, even being described as disengaged. There was kind of a long discussion of arranged marriages, with some thinking they were and are horrific, but some did talk about what they felt were possible positives, and contrasted it to the problems in American marriages and the high divorce rate. I did have to bring it back to the book, but it was an interesting side discussion.

Most agreed it was a pretty fast reading book, although there were mild complaints that not much happened, especially in the first half of the book. But all agreed the book is an interesting look into the Indian-American community, and the issues and problems they have to deal with. Also, I think, a look into contemporary mores of the 20 and 30 something generation.

A good book for a book discussion.

And next month, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.