C.O.R.A.
I recently read The White Tiger by Aravind A
diga. My friend Kate often sends me great books, and this was no exception; it won the 2008 Man Booker Prize, and was a gripping read. Grim, but a view of “ascendant India” we all need to see. I just called to activate my new credit card, and the woman on the phone sounded like she might be somewhere in South Asia. This novel is set in this “new” India, with its booming outsourcing industry, and rising middle-class. Opportunity and wealth aren’t available to everyone in India, however, and this epistolary novel recounts the story of one man who decided to rise against the odds–going against his caste, his family’s expectations, his country’s cultural traditions, and the corruption that makes the world’s largest democracy less than democratic. It wasn’t until the end, when I read the interview with the author, that I realized what a debt this book owes to Native Son and Invisible Man–except I have to say, I liked this book MUCH more!
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