Beschreibung
Winning the Man Booker prize is something that most authors dream of, although -- ironically -- the reputation of the prize itself was under siege a few years ago. Books that won the award were acquiring a reputation of being difficult and inaccessible, but those days appear to be over -- and unarguable proof may be found in the 2008 winner, The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. Apart from its considerable literary merit, the novel is the most compelling of pageturners (in the old-fashioned sense of that phrase) and offers a picture of modern India that is as evocative as it is unflattering. The protagonist, too, is drawn in the most masterly of fashion.Balram Halwai, the eponymous `white tiger', is a diminutive, overweight ex-teashop worker who now earns his living as a chauffeur. But this is only one side of his protean personality; he deals in confidence scams, over-ambitious business promotions (built on the shakiest of foundations) and enjoys approaching life with a philosophical turn of mind. But is Balram also a murderer? We learn the answer as we devour these 500 odd pages. Born into an impoverished family, Balram is removed from school by his parents in order to earn money in a thankless job: shop employee. He is forced into banal, mind-numbing work. But Balram dreams of escaping -- and a chance arises when a well-heeled village landlord takes him on as a chauffeur for his son (although the duties involve transporting the latter's wife and two Pomeranian dogs). From the rich new perspective offered to him in this more interesting job, Balram discovers New Delhi, and a vision of the city changes his life forever. His learning curve is very steep, and he quickly comes to believe that the way to the top is by the most expedient means. And if that involves committing the odd crime of violence, he persuades himself that this is what successful people must do. The story of the amoral protagonist at the centre of this fascinating narrative is, of course, what keeps the reader comprehensively gripped, but perhaps the real achievement of the book is in its picture of two Indias: the bleak, soul-destroying poverty of village life and the glittering prizes to be found in the big city. The book cleverly avoids fulfilling any of the expectations a potential reader might have -- except that of instructing and entertaining. The White Tiger will have many readers anxious to see what Adiga will do next. --Barry Forshaw
|
Kundenmeinungen
 "Stories of rottenness and corruption are always the best stories, aren't they"? (50), 3. Januar 2009
Oh nein, nicht schon wieder so ein postkolonialer Roman, der der political correctness huldigt und seine Leser davon zu überzeugen versucht, dass Indien ja eigentlich doch viel besser ist als die korrupte westliche Welt. So dachte ich, als am 14. Oktober diesen Jahres Aravind Adigas Roman "The White Tiger" mit dem renommierten Booker Prize ausgezeichnet wurde. Dennoch habe ich mir den Roman zugelegt und erlebte eine große Überraschung. "The White Tiger" ist ein tiefschwarzer und brutal-zynischer Roman, der am Beispiel einer Person in einer so noch nie dagewesenen Offenheit einen Blick auf die korrumpierte Seele eines korrumpierten Landes wirft. Ich-Erzähler des Romans ist Balram Halwai, der in einem Brief an den chinesischen Premierminister Wen Jiabao die Geschichte seines Aufstieges erzählt, die in einem Slum in der Nähe von Neu-Dheli begann und ihn bis an die Spitze der gesellschaftlichen Hierarchie führte. Und dabei wirft Balram einen schonungslosen Blick auf das Leben der zahlenmäßig gigantischen Unterschicht Indiens: "Things are different in the Darkness. There, every morning, tens of thousands of young men sit in the tea shop, reading the newspaper [...] or sit in their room talking to a photo of a film actress. They have no job to do today. They know they won't get any job today. They've given up the fight" (54). Balram entkommt dem Elend seiner Familie, als der der Fahrer des erfolgreichen Geschäftsmannes Mr. Ashok wird. Nun erlebter hautnah die Spielregeln der Reichen und Mächtigen Indiens. Und da geht es ruppig zur Sache. Bestechung steht auf der Tagesordnung: "We're driving past Ghandi, after just having given a bribe to a minister. It's a fu----- joke, isn't it?" (137) flucht Ashok in einer Mischung aus Erheiterung und Ekel. In Balram wächst Wut, Zorn und Hass auf die Reichen und Schönen und dennoch hat er nur ein Ziel: Es auch in ihre Kreise zu schaffen. Noch zwingt er sich dazu, sich seinem Meister gegenüber stets gehorsam und unterwürfig zu zeigen. Doch seine Gedanken sprechen eine andere Sprache. Als Ashok ihn fragt, was denn wohl der Sinn des Lebens sein könnte, denkt Balram: "The point of living? [...] The point of your living is that if you die, who's going to pay me three and a half thousand rupees a month" (186). Irgendwann wird der Wille zur Macht so groß, dass Balram bereit ist, alles für sein Ziel zu tun. "The new generation, I tell you, is growing up with no morals at all" (316) lautet Balrams bitteres Fazit wohl über die gesamte Menschheit, welches er anhand der Geschichte seines eigenen Aufstieges fällt. Der Leser verfolgt seinen Bericht mit einer Mischung aus Faszination und Ekel. Seiner illusionslosen Beschreibung der gesellschaftlichen Verhältnisse und deren Regeln, kann man sich einfach nicht entziehen. "The White Tiger" ist für mich der beste Gewinner des Booker Prize seit John Banvilles Roman The Sea aus dem Jahr 2005.
 An Indian Crime and Punishment Done with Tongue-in-Cheek Humor, 8. Dezember 2008
Is this novel bitter, acid, sardonic, mocking, disillusioned, scornful, disrespectful, satirical, witty, or ironic? It displays, by turns, all of those qualities. The narrator's style perfectly captures the way that my Indian friends describe how government and personal privilege work in that country. While reading, I felt like I was sitting across from one of them having a cup of tea in a friendly Indian restaurant, and that reaction made me smile.From this element, a false note creeps into this book. The people I know who express such views are highly educated Indians who have spent a lot of time outside of India. To make the book work, however, we have to believe that the writer is intelligent but has little education and experience outside of being a servant and driver.Why did this debut novel win the prestigious Man Booker prize? I can only attribute the basis for that award to the obvious allusions to Crime and Punishment as Aravind Adiga explores how an impoverished Indian develops the consciousness to perform a great crime in a memoir-style novel filled with unrestrained humor. I've certainly read more humorous books by Indian authors in recent years.As the book opens, we read a letter addressed "For the Desk of: His Excellency Wen Jiabao, The Premier's Office, Beijing, Capital of the Freedom-loving Nation of China From the Desk of: 'The White Tiger,' A Thinking Man, And an Entrepreneur, Living in the world's center of Technology and Outsourcing, Electronics City Phase I (just off Hosur Main Road, Bangalore, India." It begins, "Neither you nor I speak English, but there are some things that can be said only in English." The epistle is sent off in responses to the news that the premier is scheduled to arrive in Bangalore the following week. The White Tiger has been told on the radio that the premier wants to learn the truth about Bangalore, and the White Tiger is willing to fill him in.As you will quickly spot in the first few pages, China and India come in for their fair share of satire in this work as well . . . providing contextual humor to keep the book from becoming too serious in its focus on India and its corrupt democracy that pretends to offer more.The nightly letters continue for a week as The White Tiger (aka Balram Halwai) explains how he became an entrepreneur and how he conducts his business. If the humor starts to weigh on you, stick with it. The final part expresses a view that the new entrepreneurial class can choose to behave better than the old ownership class did. It's that hope that makes this book rise above the kind of satire that we all enjoy in newspaper columns about government corruption.The book's great strength is that Mr. Adiga is able to pull together so many different aspects of Indian society into one novel. It's an imaginative concept backed up by solid writing underpinned by deep insight into this complex and interesting nation that presents so many apparent contradictions to those who aren't Indian.One of the things I liked a lot about the book is that I could imagine The White Tiger living in Washington, D.C. and talking about the politicians there. That thought added a lot to my delight.Have fun!
|
