Addu Booker Prize 2008

Arvind Adiga created history by winning the Man Booker this year (2008), but I feel critics got to the prize before Arvind Adiga :) There were critics who said that the Man Booker book this time around is way below par the previous winners and maybe the short-listed books itself were not all that great. And then there were some saying that it was a Western Conspiracy of sorts to give the award to an Indian, don’t forget that after this the Oscars went to "Slumdog Millionaire" (nothing to take away from A.R. Rehman and Rosul, they deserved there individual awards) which to me seemed to be a Slumdog in front of the other competitors. But I would not comment on the Oscars as I have not seen the other nominated films.

But considering the Man Booker, this is what I am going to do. I have instituted an Addu Booker prize. I am going to read each of the short listed books and after I am done reading I am going to give away the Addu Booker award. The only thing which I am going to use from the Man Booker committee is the final shortlist :)

Here is the shortlist for 2008 Addu Booker Award:

My take:

1) White Tiger (Arvind Adiga):
Synopsis:
Born in a village in heartland India, the son of a rickshaw puller, Balram is taken out of school by his family and put to work in a teashop. As he crushes coals and wipes tables, he nurses a dream of escape - of breaking away from the banks of Mother Ganga, into whose depths have seeped the remains of a hundred generations.
The White Tiger is a tale of two Indias. Balram’s journey from darkness of village life to the light of entrepreneurial success is utterly amoral, brilliantly irreverent, deeply endearing and altogether unforgettable.

What I felt:

I don’t know how this one made it to the Shortlist. One thing is sure White Tiger would not win the Addu Booker Prize 2008 (this is before I read the other books). Too simple a subject, written in very simple language. Too simple for the Addu Booker award L The feel I got after I finished the book was one of boredom. The journey of Balram from Dark India to the India of Light is not riveting. The twists were expected and so were the turns. Like Slumdog it talks about the dark underbelly of India. It is not what India is presently..

…Next I will be taking up Sea of Poppies (Amitav Ghosh)