The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

It's possible to read a book and see that it's a really good book. It's well crafted, has a good logical story, and an excellent voice. However, after the read, I look back and realize that I didn't really like the book.

The White Tiger won the Man Booker Prize in 2008. It's a well written book. (Badly written books don't win the Man Booker) This is the story of Munna who struggle from a nothing child in a squalid little town to being a self employed businessman.

Wait, that makes it a sunny and cheerful, let me try again.

It's the story of Munna an innocent bright little boy who because of the disadvantages of a corrupt system was cheated out of a proper education and yet still used his initiative and ingenuity to escape his squalid life as a servant.

Ok, closer, but still not right...one more try.

This is a story of corruption. It traces the evolution in the psyche of a murderer. Munna begins his life as a normal bright child, but as the realities of living to a impoverished family in the "darkness" of India force him away from opportunities like education, Munna claws and struggles to find his way out of a system built to keep the levels of society separate and immutable. In his journey he learns to revile the trappings of privilege (like education) while simultaneously  yearning to possess them. He is both humble and arrogant - innocent and corrupt.

There that's better, but they are all true.

Perhaps the most interesting thing is the structure, the whole novel is written as an extended letter to the Premier of China. This gives the whole thing the air of confession with the assurance of impunity.

The whole thing is just unsettling.