Books and Brew

In The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, the son of a poor rickshaw puller fights against ancient India in an attempt to find the new commercialized India. “In a series of letters to the Premier of China, in anticipation of the leader’s visit to Balram’s homeland, the chauffeur recounts his transformation from an honest, hardworking boy growing up in ‘the Darkness’…to a determined killer.” (The New Yorker) Balram is both a philosopher and a criminal in this contemporary novel. Reviewed by Pamela Brubaker, Professor of Religion.