Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2008. Sebastian Barry’s haunting story of a life blighted by terrible mistreatment and ignorance, yet still marked by love, passion and hope.
The Man Booker Prize 2008
Aravind Adiga upset his countrymen with a portrayal of India as a country of corruption and servitude. The author was undaunted: ‘Fortunately, the political class doesn’t read.’
Adiga, 33 at the time of his win, was uncomfortable with the brouhaha that accompanies the prize: ‘Once you have written a book like The White Tiger,’ he vouchsafed, ‘it’s very hard to escape from the shadow of it. I was frightened The White Tiger would eat me up too.’
Adiga escaped its clutches with three subsequent, highly-praised novels. His prize-winning book, detailing the rise of an unscrupulous Indian village boy from poverty to riches, was adapted into an Oscar-nominated film.
Winner The Booker Prize 2008
- By
- Aravind Adiga
- Published by
- Atlantic
Aravind Adiga’s brilliantly irreverent tale of two Indias charts one man’s evolution from village waiter to larcenous killer to amoral entrepreneur.
The Shortlist
Amitav Ghosh’s astonishing adventure spans the poppy fields of the Ganges, the backstreets of China and the high seas of the Indian Ocean.
By Amitav Ghosh
There are concealed pasts to discover and stark choices to be made in Linda Grant’s tale of a young woman in search of her place in the world.
By Linda Grant
Philip Hensher’s epic portrait of Britain in the Thatcher years, which expertly charts the lives of ordinary people against a history on the move.
Steve Toltz’s blisteringly funny debut is this uproarious tale of a father and son whose spiritual symmetry transcends all their many shortcomings.
By Steve Toltz
Aravind Adiga’s brilliantly irreverent tale of two Indias charts one man’s evolution from village waiter to larcenous killer to amoral entrepreneur.
