Ah… the White Tiger!
Well, the book promised a lot more from the outset – the Booker win, the unassuming South Indian who stirred the literary world with the roar of the Tiger, the media buzz around it, etc – than what it finally delivered. It was a good read and I am not complaining. The story is a mug shot from life around us. It could have been a short story within my own ‘Survival Ecosystems’ piece on this blog. It is subtly comical at certain places. It is satirical in most. It was irreverent, amoral, self-deprecating, repulsive, stirring and quite obviously boring as well.
Maybe Aravind could have held on to the drama/ suspense till the end even though I did not expect a very shifty plot. The enigma of unraveling to myself what maketh a Booker winner pretty much goaded me to finish the book even though I lost interest midway through it. I had my wife asking me if the story was so riveting that I refused to let go of the book even when my glass needed a refill. I replied, “I just want to finish it.” I finished it over two 4 hour sittings which were continually disrupted by the din of the television (that my wife was watching), our kid’s nursery rhyme rehearsals (playschool hangover at home) which had me participate and the attention that my mobile phone demanded when it buzzed. Not that I am slow reader. I just wanted to read each and every word of the novel unlike the more accomplished speed readers who do a 400 page novel in 2 hours. And I didn’t want to do the ‘do’!
I wanted to get under the skin of the protagonist of the plot. I wanted to be ‘a diggah’ (a digger, not Adiga)! A diggah of the subterfuge that Adiga pulled off so well. I kind of liked the imaginary conversation with the Chinese Premier but it was a real drag after a while. The Chinese connect is difficult to justify despite certain references to the nation.
Maybe it is not so difficult to write a book after all. It just requires some serious intent and a story (any story). The catch is probably about what the reader would take away from the effort. And this book kind of confused me a bit on that front. Maybe the reader is not looking for anything. Works of fiction are not read to take home a message that one would seriously consider working on. They provide the non-rush hour rush. The White Tiger hardly roared along its journey. Even at the end, I felt the protagonist’s personification was quite misplaced. But hey, the jury lapped it up as they probably heard a roar while I heard a whimper. The world is creaming over it. And some more people are probably even more motivated to write.
The book is worth a ‘A Dig, eh’, for sure!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Considering it was his second attempt, I wonder what the first one has to offer. I would probably need to read both books to critique his writing. The point is... if it inspires you to write, it is a great book anyway! :)
ReplyDeleteWell, AA followed the same story telling pattern in both books. I will have to read 'Between the Assassinations' as well. I did the White Tiger first as I wanted to get a first glance at his writing style. Reading his first book might have mushroomed other thoughts about his writing.
ReplyDeleteNet - Nothing smells better than success, even if it is acrid.