Normally I stay away from books with a Reading Group Guide, but I'm in China and I take what books I can get. In terms of English-language books, there's a lot of Jane Austen floating around and not much else. But I was certainly glad to stumble onto Aravind Araga's White Tiger. The shit is good.
It won the Man Booker Prize last year. It's being compared to Native Son, Crime and Punishment and Chuck Palaniuk of all people. And although the blurbs are a bit overzealous (one reviewer calls it 'the future of the novel') it is a wildly entertaining book with a kid gloves-removed look at India's class and poverty issues. I also found it ironic to be reading it in China when the entire novel is in the form of letter to Premier Wen JiaBao and takes a lot of barely disguised shots at China.
