tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post6718955628859869210..comments2024-03-28T22:51:28.222+05:30Comments on The Middle Stage: On Aravind Adiga's The White TigerChandrahashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07483080477755487202noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-3169786977154428982010-12-16T21:15:04.156+05:302010-12-16T21:15:04.156+05:30"We are never quite sure what to make of Balr..."We are never quite sure what to make of Balram, because Adiga cannot convincingly inhabit the voice or perspective of a hick from the hinterland. We get not Balram, but Adiga/Balram, and we find the sometimes attractive cynicism of the character [...] mixed up with the manipulative cynicism of the novelist, who is not willing to set realistic limits on the character's imagination."<br /><br />God, are you beautiful or are you beautiful! I just finished reading this book (2 years late, I know) and all the while, I found myself angry at the way Adiga was appropriating the sub-altern. Those lines explain, to me, exactly what he did wrong as a novelist.<br /><br />On a different note, I have to say (again), that your reviews teach me so much. I almost want to pick up one of those books to 'test' myself and see if I can identify how the author screwed up =)<br /><br />Thank you.Sanahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15839775868038854715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-47525909347166801472010-05-02T03:26:52.035+05:302010-05-02T03:26:52.035+05:30All the negative criticisms about the novel look a...All the negative criticisms about the novel look a bit too harsh. I agree that the portrayal of the landlords like some Bollywood villains could have been avoided. But, as the last two comments point out, the novel is not entirely unrealistic.<br /><br />Even in the parts where Balram is returning to the village, the fact that he's obsessed with his masters and his job shows his fascination towards them and how he habitually ignores his family.<br /><br />The author has intelligently chosen the simple, dark, humorous, witty and discursive narrative style to paint a picture of the darker side of the nation. All the deliberate exaggerations definitely helped in doing the job well.Kamal LeCanonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11546064661802511917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-82242647220124036932009-12-25T17:57:29.065+05:302009-12-25T17:57:29.065+05:30"This scene is reprehensible not because Balr..."This scene is reprehensible not because Balram is so despicable, but because of Adiga’s implication that anybody – even parents whose grief is fresh as a wound – can be bought in India as long as the price is right."<br /><br />This suggests to me that reviewer has fundamentally missed the point of the novel. Poverty brings desperation. Bleak, amoral, calculating desperation. The poor are forced to continually trade-off their dignity for hope of a better future that money may buy.<br /><br />The author was pointing out that India is awash with such miserable calculus and if we pretend that this not the case, the will continue to be so woefully failed. <br /><br />Awfuul truths are the ones that most need some saying.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01961351048777270540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-53463577014429021902009-08-05T11:59:16.469+05:302009-08-05T11:59:16.469+05:30"But would a man like Balram – himself a murd..."But would a man like Balram – himself a murderer and a corrupt entrepreneur who knows how to work the system – conceptualise a situation in these terms?"<br /><br />In fact it is surprising that you expect such high moral standards from Balram halwai that he shouldn't point a finger at someone else because he himself is guilty. When has that stopped any human being?<br /><br />"Would a man like Balram, who calls himself a "half-baked man" because he was never allowed to complete his schooling, be able to declare, as Balram does, that "Only three nations have never let themselves be ruled by foreigners: China, Afghanistan, and Abyssinia"?"<br /><br />On that count you wouldn't even expect him to use a macintosh computer. But he does. So yes, I expect him to make that statement. Balram Halwai crawls and treks through the ladders to higher society. He observes and learns. And since he has become an entrepreneur, I imagine he has learned a lot. He probably goes to Wikipedia on his Mac. He also read the three poets, did you realize that?<br /><br />"Now, dialogue is almost always a knotty issue for the Indian novelist writing in English, because it requires a kind of translation of speech that Indian readers, at least, would recognise is not emanating from a speaker of English."<br /><br />This whole native tongue translation is a problem is boring. Nobody is going to think an Indian author is awesome to have masterfully done that because, well, everybody from RK Narayanan and Salman Rushdie have already done that and done it very well. What Adiga gets culturally wonderfully right is that Ashok Sharma starts writing a letter impulsively and goes on a meandering rant, taking license to divert laterally and elaborate on a story. You can't get any more Indian than that.<br /><br />"But, just like other denizens of the Light whom Balram criticises, Adiga himself is unable to engage with the Darkness, and is himself in the dark about how a character from this domain might think and speak." <br /><br />Balram Halwai finds it interesting that Pinky Madam says the f word. And that is why he talks about it. Balram Halwai is the guy who learns not to scratch his groin, and how to wear rich man clothes because he is trying to climb upwards, so he speaks and dresses like that. Why would he speak like someone he doesn't want to be?<br /><br />"This scene is reprehensible not because Balram is so despicable, but because of Adiga’s implication that anybody – even parents whose grief is fresh as a wound – can be bought in India as long as the price is right."<br /><br />That's how Ashok Sharma sees it. The way I see it, it is unfortunate that the parents in the "darkness" can't have the freedom to self express their disgust and might have to think rationally. Have seen enough Hindi films where in such a situation the family would throw the money on Ashok's face and say "dikhar hai mujhe tumhare in paison se", but this seems plausible if not real. The point I get from the book and what Ashok Sharma seems to believe in is that you have to make moral compromises to make it out of the "darkness". I think Aravind Adiga's take is that it is unfortunate that to make it out of there there is no way but to make moral compromises.Sriramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14147413738265909202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-88276563962014883422009-03-14T06:57:00.000+05:302009-03-14T06:57:00.000+05:30I'm a reader from Chicago doing research on this b...I'm a reader from Chicago doing research on this book to lead a discussion of it for a group of friends who have recently read it. I have not been to India but know of its reach in to call centers, outsourcing of processing, Tata, etc. The "bright," "growing," "we're all western and doing it modern capitalism way" that appears on CNN and other news sources I'm sure is somewhat accurate. And I'm sure that this book is also somewhat accurate and - just like Dickens - exaggerated to enforce a social point. But I appreciate learning another perspective even if it is flawed. It begins to allow me to see a more complete picture of India. I'm sure more authors will provide a greater range. I will investigate the other books you have indicated.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-25223700753838406862008-11-06T08:27:00.000+05:302008-11-06T08:27:00.000+05:30would not know about 'home products' or the sketch...would not know about 'home products' or the sketchy 'patna roughcut' but otherwise feel happy for what you have to say. bravo.azdakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11952815871710931417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-69549362175740851582008-10-23T12:13:00.000+05:302008-10-23T12:13:00.000+05:30I haven't read Home Products or Patna Roughtcut, s...I haven't read Home Products or Patna Roughtcut, so for me, Prem Chand is the one who wrote superbly about the Indians for whom getting food on the table is not a matter of course.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-63628075392067733572008-10-21T19:00:00.000+05:302008-10-21T19:00:00.000+05:30spot on!spot on!अभय तिवारीhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05954884020242766837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-20232317489649766452008-10-07T23:21:00.000+05:302008-10-07T23:21:00.000+05:30I though the review was a bit too sour. The exact ...I though the review was a bit too sour. The exact dialogue you are referring to might be a bit Dickenesque, but I found the book to be a superb analysis of India's modern demons.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-28337479845646180852008-05-29T16:04:00.000+05:302008-05-29T16:04:00.000+05:30This is very fine review. It exemplifies what you ...This is very fine review. It exemplifies what you say about James Wood - this review-essay is not just about Adiga's novel but how fiction works (or should).akhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15385267278249934192noreply@blogger.com