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The White Tiger
- Narrated by: Bindya Solanki
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
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Summary
British Book Awards, Author of the Year, 2009.
Man Booker Prize, Fiction, 2008.
Balram Halwai is the White Tiger - the smartest boy in his village. Too poor to finish school, he has to work in a teashop until the day a rich man hires him as a chauffeur, and takes him to live in Delhi. The city is a revelation. Balram becomes aware of immense wealth all around him, and realizes the only way he can become part of it is by murdering his master.
The White Tiger presents a raw and unromanticized India, both thrilling and shocking.
Critic reviews
What listeners say about The White Tiger
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Overall
- caroline
- 24-05-12
LOVE this book!
From the first paragraph read I was absolutely hooked! The story follows the struggle to survive in India and the driver sub-culture. This is not a fairytale, it tells the reader about the fixed class system and the hard struggle to get out of the "darkness". This is one of the best books I have ever listened to, I wished my long journey to work was longer! The book would make the most amazing film.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- ste5eu
- 30-07-09
A gripping tale
This is a step outside of my usual genre's and I loved it. Each time I stopped listening I looked forward to the opportunity to hear more. An interesting insight into the other side of the new India. I thought the readers accent also added to the effect of putting me in Balarams shoes.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Welsh Mafia
- 21-02-10
Tiger, tiger burning bright in the darkness
Approached initially on the terms that Aravind Adiga set out himself ? it is important that writers like me try to highlight the brutal injustices of society (Indian). That's what I'm trying to do ? it is not an attack on the country, it's about the greater process of self-examination - this is an entrepreneurial endeavour that undoubtedly pays dividends for the body of post-post colonial fiction.
Having spent time in New Delhi amongst the self-proclaimed entrepreneurs and, co-incidentally the seemingly much more resourceful drivers of the blacked out 4 x 4?s, White Tiger reflects a jarring but accurate picture of a society in emergence ? having moved on from emergency.
We know from the works of Satyajit Ray that there is great dignity in poverty, but Adiga?s work hammers away at the notion that spirituality in this great country has been outsourced. Underneath it all, of course, is a great sensitivity on which this important mission is based an on which the self-important narration of the detail drawn central character sits.
However, in India, the neon strip does not yet outshine the candle light when it comes to artistic intention....we have an important new voice to continue the sub-continental dialogue and a clear expectation of more great things to come.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- A S Ravenscroft
- 17-01-22
Fresh, disturbing, very engaging
A very different way to talk about the desperate inequality of India. Unsettling, engaging, it pulls you into another world
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Overall
- jill
- 03-07-12
An Indian Driver's Tale
Excellent!! I used every excuse to catch up & keep listening.And the narrator,Bindya Solanki,was outstanding.I had read this book,but lstening was so much better than reading.Try it,you won't be disappointed.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Jennifer
- 16-02-11
Totally Enjoyable
Humorous and dark. This story is gripping and entertaining and the style of the book is perfectly suited to the audio format. I whole-heartedly recommend it.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Sequinn
- 26-08-10
Just wonderful.
This book is just wonderful. I was transported to a modern and fascinating, if often brutal and ruthless India. I loved the main character in all his guises, and I was rooting for him throughout the book, even though at times I did cringe, I did understand where he was coming from. The narrator delivers the story with perfect pitch and tone and a voice totally suited to the character. I could not stop listening till I had heard the whole story. I lost a weekend in blissful tense, often harrowing drama which brought an all too realistic view of India which I had previously romanticised from lovely holiday experinces. I love the place, but I have a whole new understanding now. A fantastic book. Buy it!!!!
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Mark
- 04-04-09
Shame about the narrator
A gripping story offering insights into the underbelly of Indian culture. However, the effect is dimished by the reader who sounds very much like she is reading the story for the first time, complete with incorrect pauses and mispronunciations.
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15 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Margaret
- 05-02-11
enjoyable, thought-provoking, but over-priced
In common with the other reviewers I was hooked by the picture painted of India by Aravind Adiga who, by virtue of his Indian nationality but international career, seems particularly well qualified to paint it. The choice of Bindya Solanki to read it is an interesting one - why a woman, when the main character is an adult male for much of the book? That said, Bindya Solanki produces a good range of voices and accents which in themselves are a source of pleasure to listen to; but she also makes a number of misinterpretations of the meaning, in fact small mistakes which one would have expected to be edited and corrected in a recording of this price. Well worth getting as a Member's Credit purchase, not worth paying full price.
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11 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Tim
- 12-10-11
How the other half live
A facinating look into the lives of people from the darkness. Maybe we're all caged chickens trapped in destinies sights. A great book.
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4 people found this helpful