The White Tiger, published in 2008, is Aravind Adiga's debut novel. In its first year of publication, it was named a New York Times Bestseller, and was awarded the Man Booker Prize, making Adiga the fourth Indian-born author and, at age 33, the second-youngest author overall to win the prize.
The novel explores class struggle in India at a time of modernization and globalization. Major transformations in Indian society have taken place in the last half-century, from the termination of British rule in 1947, to the end of the caste system, to the economic changes accompanying the rise of new industries such as technology and outsourcing. Adiga's The White Tiger rejects the typical "exoticized" view of India that is commonly represented in literature, with perhaps the most emblematic example being in the stories of Rudyard Kipling. Instead, the novel provides a darkly comic examination of the complications that have emerged during this period of transformation and upheaval.
