It's a wonder any Canadians and Americans bother writing, with Indians and other nationalities turning out writers like Adiga.
A near perfect book, you won't stop until you are finished. Adiga found the perfect voice for the story of Balram, the driver who goes from nameless village boy to 'outsourcing' millionaire. In his letters to the Chinese president, he describes his metamorphosis. He changes from innocent servant, slowly gathering courage and confidence as he learns the corrupt and hypocritical ways of the world, realizing his destiny as the White Tiger, the rare breed, when he finally decides to commit murder for money.
The reviews all mention how funny it is, but I did not read it as a funny book. The characters are very sardonic, and see the hypocrisy and injustice in every aspect of life.
My only warning is that this is not the India that you will see when you visit. India is a beautiful country full of beautiful people. Of course, you can see the dark side of any place, and that is what Adiga is exploring. Don't let this turn you off India.
Other books exploring the change of a 'good' person to a 'bad' person:
The Reluctant Fundamentalist *** by Mohsin Hamid
DeNiro's Game **** by Rawe Hage
This is the true story of the avenging of the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Germany by Mossad agents. It was made into an excellent movie called Munich.
Jonas is a very good writer, and tells the story as told to him by the team leader, "Avner". The affect on the personal lives of the agents is woven into the story of precision planning of each assassination. As intelligent people, they constantly reasses not only the morality of their actions but the effectiveness of revenge.
Jonas also describes the events of terrorism in the 60s and 70s, the skyjackings, the bombings, the murders, by numerous groups around the world. He says that they were all financed by the Soviets in order to confuse and destroy the confidence of the US. He also describes in detail the Le Group, the criminal organization, that provided support services to all the terrorist, lead by a Frenchman called Papa, who was a maquis during the war. After the Israeli agents killed 9 of the 11 targets, the tide turned, and 3 of them were hunted down and killed before the operation was terminated. After that, "Avner" story becomes one of betrayal by the Mossad. The Soviet involvement is quite plausible but the existence of such an efficient organization as Le Group, is less believable.
The events of this book have been denied by all those knowlegeable about such things and by the Israeli government. Jonas dedicates a chapter detailing why he believes "Avner".
Other good books about the Holocaust, and the suffering and survival of the Jews:
Defiance *** by Mechama Tec
Sarah's Key **+ by Tatiana de Rosnay (fiction)
The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (fiction)
The Zookeeper's Wife *** by Diane Ackerman
Henning Mankell
Donna Leon
Alexander McCall Smith
Minette Walters
Lynda LaPlante
Also love:
Giles Blunt
L.R. Wright
Eric Wright
Edward Phillips
I am always talking about my top 5 Canadian novels, without actually clarifying to myself what they are. So here's what they are right now:
Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyd
Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay
No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod
The Diviners by Margaret Lawrence
The Stone Angel by Margaret Lawrence
This is one of Leon's best in the Brunetti series. The themes are the church and religion, on which she is more than cynical, and gypsies or Rom as they are called.
Other books with church/priest themes reviewed on this blog:
The Bishop's Man * by Linden MacIntyre
The Italians **** by Luigi Barzini
Don't bother with this book unless you like being frustrated. For some reason, MacIntyre has used 10 times the amount of suspense that is necessary in a good novel and doesn't resolve the mysteries he sets up.
On the positive side, he does portray the rationalizations of the church, the priests, and the parishioners regarding sexual abuse of children very well. Also, the characters, esp. the priests and the protagonist Father Duncan, the ultimate passive personality, without whom the task of disqualifying, invalidating, and diminishing the effect of the abuse would not be possible, are believable.
I also admire MacIntyre for taking on the topic. But I wouldn't recommend the book.
2009 Giller Prize.
This is the story of the Bielski brothers, Jewish partisans, who rescued over 1,000 Jews who survived WWII in Belorussia by hiding in the forests. The book describes in detail how the group survived physically and the heirarchy and social organization that developed in order to survive.
Tec interviewed many survivors including Tuvia Bielski, the charasmatic leader of the group, but the book is not an oral history, although there are some direct quotes. This book is well researched and well written, other than the lack of stories in the survivors own words.
The book is fascinating from two aspects --- the sociological/psychological, which is thoroughly analyzed, and the historical, which describes a little known aspect of the war. Using many specific anecdotes, Tec describes how women were regarded in the forest camps, and especially how many relationships between upper class women and peasant men came about.
Two more great mysteries by this author in the Detective Anna Travis series.
Another humorous read. Sick of him now.
This is an excellent book about black maids and their white women bosses. Most of it takes place in Jackson Mississippi in 1964. Stockett captures the detail of this narrow and disgraceful universe in every sentence. A deep racist attitude defines the US to this day (we have only to look at Katrina for proof).
The story is told by several of the black maids and a young white women who wants to be a writer and decides to write their story. Mississippi in 1964 is a dangerous place for anyone who dares even the slightest defiance of the white women's rules so the project must be carried out with great secrecy. Even having a "high yellow" baby was not allowed as it blurred the boundaries of race. The baby had to be put into an orphanage.
Stockett's characters are wonderful and I was able to understand if not really feel the humiliation and fear of their daily lives. I also felt some guilt and shame for being white and maybe not always being as enlightened as I should have been.
I didn't put this book down.
Other great books with US race theme:
Inheriting the Trade*** by Thomas DeWolf (non-fiction)
Slaves in the Family**** by Edward Ball (non-fiction)
Book of Negroes** by Laurence Hill
A terrific book, similar to other books with Indian desai theme. In this one, the themes are infanticide of girl babies, and moving from village to Bombay slum. A girl baby is rescued and put in orphanage and adopted by a wealthy American couple. Highly recommended.
The overall theme of cultural adjustments is no longer original and Gowda does rely sometimes on familiar and typical incidents. However, it is a compelling story and suspenseful to the very end.
Other great books with similar themes:
Namesake *** by Jhumpa Lahiri
Hero's Walk *** by Anita Rau Badami
Can You Hear the Nightbird Call? ***by Anita Rau Badami
This book is the prequel to the other Kurt Wallander books. I have read them all. Mankell is a great mystery writer.
This is a unique portrait of the nature of the Italian people, written by a powerful writer. He is both amusing and deep, opening every fibre of muscle and blood vessel to reveal all that is necessary to understand Italy. It is a masterful thesis, still in print after 46 years. It was written in 1964 and is interesting seeing Italy through the eyes of that year compared with 2010.
The development of every emotion and motivation of business, family, crime, corruption is described in stark detail with numerous detailed examples from current times and history.
I learned much not only about the Italian people (males mostly) but also the history of Italy. For example, the popes would always enrich their relatives, in particular nephews, to carry on the family estates intact. The reasons for this helped me later understand some of the great paintings and frescos in the Vatican Museums, as well as the little farm I stayed in in Locorotondo which had been first established by a priest as a church in 1728, and then built up to leave to a nephew.
In his chapter on understanding Mussolini and his hold on Italy, I found out that he was originally a Communist, and then started the Fasci II which folded together the extreme left and extreme right. This is never mentioned in other books.
Barzini's use of the English language is jolting and I had to stop to admire and analyze it in almost every sentence.
A must read for anyone intensely interested in Italy and history.
Another wonderful book by Badami, a Vancouver based writer. All those who wish a further understanding of how the Sikhs in Canada became militant and violent should read this book and how Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs were driven apart by politics and violence. Badami weaves several stories of immigrants together skillfully with none of these implausible turns of fate that characterize some fiction I have read recently. The characters are fascinating and, though of another culture, have traits and behaviours that I related to.
Her previous books, Tamarind Mem and Hero's Walk, are also highly recommended reads, both for the wonderful story telling and writing, and for the understanding of Indo-Canadian history.
This book provides a real soldier's account of the Canadian's Italian Campaign in WW II. It tells the human story to complement Dan Dancock's The D-Day Dodgers.
Again, I was often speechless in wonder at how these men and women not only endured war but threw themselves into bloody battle over and over.
The book is often short on details, and it seems to have been edited by cutting chunks out of it. Nonetheless, I strongly recommend it.
This is a most interesting book, a true story about a woman who saved many Jews during WW II, by hiding them in the Warsaw zoo. The stories of the animals, her husband and children, the many guests they had over the entire war well told, intense and lovely. Ackerman is a master of detail. The history of the appalling Jewish ghetto and the astounding Polish resistance is unfolded in equally grim detail. There are numerous anecdotes of encounters with the German army and officials and many narrow escapes. An essential book for readers interested in history and WW II.
I found the writing style a bit annoying at times but can't remember why at the moment.
