ABCD Reading List--The White Tiger

For any lover of Slumdog Millionaire, this book is a must-read. The novel is narrated by the protagonist, drafting a letter to the Chinese premier to tell him about the "real India." Each chapter is a separate letter, written in the span of a night. It follows the rags-to-riches story with plenty of twists and turns that made Slumdog such a compelling story.

There's a lot of backstory in this Booker Prize winner, namely the journey the protagonist takes to go from poor village boy to entrepreneur in Bangalore. The format, while jarring, allows the reader to compare the character in his present and past selves. The characters are well-crafted and evolve as the book goes--my favorites are the stubborn grandmother, the perpetually confused son of the local bureaucrat and his flighty, spoiled wife. The description is full without being Dickensonian in detail, the prose is sophisticated but simple, and Adiga excels in the narrator's retelling the story while tying it back to the letter he's drafting.

I can continue to rave about this book, but the gush stops here--go to Barnes and Noble, order it off Amazon, download it on your Kindle. It's a must-read. The Booker Prize committee certainly agrees--they awarded Aravind Adiga the 2008 prize for this book. I'm excited to see what's next for this fresh literary talent.