Friday, December 5, 2008

Mauled by The White Tiger

Arvinda Adiga must be lustily basking in the aftermath of his success as the winner of this year’s booker prize. A feat, not everyone of his age would hope of, leave alone achieving it. Even though he has made his mark with his book, The White Tiger -- his writing style pales in comparison with the other Indian writers who won the same prestigious prize earlier.

Arundhati Roy the author of, “The God of small things”, who won the 1997 booker prize, is leaps and bounds ahead of Adiga with her shrewd imagination and riveting writing skill. Her English is simply impeccable and most of her writings reflect an IQ that probably crossed the 250 mark.

Salman Rushdie, the 1981 booker prize winner and also the booker of bookers’ prize winner, is undoubtedly one of the amazing writers of the century. His style is silky and subtle just like expensive wine that tastefully lingers on your tongue before sinking into the pits of the stomach.

Amitav Ghosh, who incidentally was a strong contender of the 2008 booker prize, writes a lot better than Adiga. His book, The Hungry Tide, the story of which is mostly set in the captivating and mysterious islands of Sunderbans, is worth a read.

Finally, talking about Adiga’s writing skills in relation to his other Indian counterparts, he lacks on several fronts. First, there’s no easy flow of the language, his sentences are like as if somebody had mutilated a body and then pieced it together. You could easily make out the marks, stitches and the ugly protrudings. Secound, he talks about an India that is literally non-existent. Imagine landlords having bonded labour in current days. Of course, there might be some scattered incidents here and there, but definitely not in the way Adiga describes. Third, the book details on squalor and filth. Paying very little attention to the other advancements India is known for like breakthroughs in Telecommunications, Information Technology, Rocket Science, Bio-Technology, Nano-technology, Pharmacy and more.

One reason why Adiga must have won the booker prize is that the judges, majority of who are from western countries, probably liked his intense hatred for India which is very well reflected in his writing. How else would a book like The White Tiger win a Booker Prize?

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