Indias Aravind Adiga Wins Booker For Debut Novel
October 23, 2008
A young 33, the portrait of an unadorned India as a theme for his debut novel and a Booker Prize winner already, that’s Aravind Adiga for those uninitiated to the world of global merit literary works and prizes.
Adiga’s proud to be an Indian and a novelist – yes, in that order. His debut book, titled ‘The White Tiger’ all but roared effectively to silence the muddle in the minds of the demanding and very critical Man Booker jury, which was all a-praise for his winner of a book-idea and got him the prestigious £50,000 Man Booker Prize for Fiction – one of UK’s highest honours for class writers and a global achievement for India.
Among the six finalists who made it to the Man Booker shortlist, Adiga was the only debut writer, which made him a speculative contender at best, by general guesswork standards for those who’ve been following the preferences towards established writers for the highly coveted Man Booker prize. Well, if one believes that ‘exceptions prove the rule’ (as only 2 other debut novelists achieved this feat in the past – namely Arundhati Roy for her groundbreaking ‘God of Small Things’ in 1997 and DBC Pierre in 2003 for his ‘Vernon God Little’), they certainly would be pleased to applaud the young novelist on this remarkable feat – of achieving his childhood dream of being a writer and also succeeding in winning over an eminent literary panel of editors and critics with a compelling and angry story filled with dark humour that traverses a man’s journey from an Indian village to business success.
The Madras-born author of ‘The White Tiger’ now lives in Mumbai and has rich memories of the “people of Delhi” to whom he dedicated the prize: “All that is good and bad comes to Delhi,” he is reported as saying.
Well, whatever his views, they certainly seemed to have worked for his literary experiences when put to paper as one critic described his award winning novel as a product “from the bottom of the heap” that provided “an adorned portrait of India.” The Chair of the judges, Mr. Michael Portillo commented on Adiga’s win at the awards dinner at the Guildhall, with this positive summary: “The White Tiger prevailed because the judges felt that it shocked and entertained in equal measure.”
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