Late to the Party: Man Booker Edition

I just finished The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, the winner of this year's Man Booker Prize. I really enjoyed it, despite the fact that, when the prize was announced, I recall seeing a great deal of anger and disapproval of the choice. Perhaps, for those who read all of the books on the short list, there were other, better books. Still, The White Tiger was a powerful and fascinating story.

I've previously mentioned my fondness for first person narration, and the narrator of this book is an excellent example. He is not entirely trustworthy, but at the same time his story contains enough elements to point this out, while he insists otherwise. I'm also a fan of epistolography, or in smaller words, the study of letters. I got into this by reading Ancient Roman Letters, particularly Cicero, Pliny the Younger, and Fronto. Fronto is the best, he mainly writes letters about how his stomach is bothering him, but he's writing these letters to a Roman Emperor. Hilarious.

Anyway, the narration in The White Tiger takes the form of letters being written to the Premier of China, to teach him about India and entrepreneurship. The didactic, self-important tone brings the narrator immediately to life.

This was the first Booker winner that I've read, and I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I hadn't heard of it through it's nomination for the prize. I've read other books by Booker-winners, but not the books of theirs that won. This makes me hesitant to say too much about the prize as a whole, and Adiga's place within it. I do have The Siege of Krishnapur sitting on my shelf waiting for me though. Once I've read a few more maybe I'll change my mind about Adiga's relative merit, but I doubt it.