The White Tiger

By: Aravind Adiga

Narrated by: Kerry Shale

Meet Balram Halwal, the 'White Tiger': servant, philosopher, entrepreneur, murderer. Over the course of seven nights, by the scattered light of a preposterous chandelier, Balram tells his story....

Born in a village in the dark heart of India, the son of a rickshaw puller, Balram is taken out of school by his family and put to work in a tea shop. As he crushes coal and wipes tables, he nurses a dream of escape, of breaking away from the banks of Mother Ganga, into whose murky depths have seeped the remains of a hundred generations.

His big chance comes when a rich village landlord hires him as a chauffeur for his son, his daughter-in-law, and their two Pomeranian dogs. From behind the wheel of a Honda, Balram first sees Delhi.

.The city is a revelation. Amid the cockroaches and call centres, the 36,000,004 gods, the slums, the shopping malls and the crippling traffic jams, Balram's reeducation begins. Caught between his instinct to be a loyal son and servant and his desire to better himself, he learns of a new morality at the heart of a new India.

As the other servants flick through the pages of Murder Weekly, Balram begins to see how the tiger might escape his cage. For surely any successful man must spill a little blood on his way to the top.

The White Tiger is a tale of two Indias. Balram's journey from the darkness of village life to the light of entrepreneurial success is utterly amoral, brilliantly irreverent, deeply endearing and altogether unforgettable.

©2008 Aravind Adiga (P)2008 Orion Publishing Group

Reminds me of all of Delhi's facettes

it sheds light on how people are treated in india in a very smart and cheeky manner, allowing this one character to escape his fate, without justifying his means. and still you feel empathy and range at the same time towards this person. loved it.

Good Story and Narrative !

Great story , you really tend to see the prospective of the narrator . The thick Indian accent draws me more towards the story and is quite funny .

What kind of animal are you?

A scintillating tale of modern India narrated in an immersive way. Time flies when you're listening to it.

What a firework!

Excellent read. So many layers that keep sparking. Brilliant and fun. One of my favourite novels and probably the best read I have heard read.

Highly entertaining read

This was a highly entertaining read, read as such by the performer. I thoroughly enjoyed it without missing the complexities of the social commentary.