Aravind Adiga Books In Order

Short Story Collections In Publication Order

  1. Between the Assassinations (2008)

Standalone Novels In Publication Order

  1. The White Tiger (2008)
  2. Last Man in Tower (2011)
  3. Selection Day (2016)
  4. Amnesty (2020)

Short Story Collections Book Covers

Standalone Novels Book Covers

Aravind Adiga Books Overview

Between the Assassinations

From the New York Times bestselling winner of the Man Booker Prize 2008 a powerful and striking new collection

Welcome to Kittur, India. Of its 193,432 residents, only 89 declare themselves to be without religion or caste. And if the characters in Between the Assassinations are any indication, Kittur is an extraordinary crossroads of the brightest minds and the poorest morals, the up and coming and the downtrodden, and of an India that modern literature has rarely addressed.

A twelve year old boy named Ziauddin, a gofer at a tea shop near the railway station, is enticed into wrongdoing because a fair skinned stranger treats him with dignity and warmth. George D’Souza, a mosquito repellent sprayer, elevates himself to gardener and then chauffeur to the lovely, young Mrs. Gomes, and then loses it all when he attempts to be something more. A little girl’s first act of love for her father is to beg on the street for money to support his drug habit. A privileged schoolboy sets off an explosive in a Jesuit school classroom in protest against casteism. And the loneliest member of the Marxist Maoist Party of India falls in love with the one young woman, in the poorest part of town, whom he cannot afford to wed.

A blinding, brilliant, and brave mosaic of Indian life as it is lived in a place called Kittur, Between the Assassinations, with all the humor, sympathy, and unflinching candor of The White Tiger, showcases the most beloved aspects of Aravind Adiga’s writing to brilliant effect and enlarges our understanding of the world we live in today.

The White Tiger

Introducing a major literary talent, The White Tiger offers a story of coruscating wit, blistering suspense, and questionable morality, told by the most volatile, captivating, and utterly inimitable narrator that this millennium has yet seen. Balram Halwai is a complicated man. Servant. Philosopher. Entrepreneur. Murderer. Over the course of seven nights, by the scattered light of a preposterous chandelier, Balram tells us the terrible and transfixing story of how he came to be a success in life having nothing but his own wits to help him along. Born in the dark heart of India, Balram gets a break when he is hired as a driver for his village’s wealthiest man, two house Pomeranians Puddles and Cuddles, and the rich man’s very unlucky son. From behind the wheel of their Honda City car, Balram’s new world is a revelation. While his peers flip through the pages of Murder Weekly ‘Love Rape Revenge!’, barter for girls, drink liquor Thunderbolt, and perpetuate the Great Rooster Coop of Indian society, Balram watches his employers bribe foreign ministers for tax breaks, barter for girls, drink liquor single malt whiskey, and play their own role in the Rooster Coop. Balram learns how to siphon gas, deal with corrupt mechanics, and refill and resell Johnnie Walker Black Label bottles all but one. He also finds a way out of the Coop that no one else inside it can perceive. Balram’s eyes penetrate India as few outsiders can: the cockroaches and the call centers; the prostitutes and the worshippers; the ancient and Internet cultures; the water buffalo and, trapped in so many kinds of cages that escape is almost impossible, The White Tiger. And with a charisma as undeniable as it is unexpected, Balram teaches us that religion doesn’t create virtue, and money doesn’t solve every problem but decency can still be found in a corrupt world, and you can get what you want out of life if you eavesdrop on the right conversations. Sold in sixteen countries around the world, The White Tiger recalls The Death of Vishnu and Bangkok 8 in ambition, scope, and narrative genius, with a mischief and personality all its own. Amoral, irreverent, deeply endearing, and utterly contemporary, this novel is an international publishing sensation and a startling, provocative debut.

Last Man in Tower

Searing. Explosive. Lyrical. Compassionate. Here is the astonishing new novel by the Man Booker Prize winning author of The White Tiger, a book that took rage and anger at injustice and turned it into a thrilling murder story. Now, with the same fearlessness and insight, Aravind Adiga broadens his canvas to give us a riveting story of money and power, luxury and deprivation, set in the booming city of Mumbai. At the heart of this novel are two equally compelling men, poised for a showdown. Real estate developer Dharmen Shah rose from nothing to create an empire and hopes to seal his legacy with a building named the Shanghai, which promises to be one of the city’s most elite addresses. Larger than life Shah is a dangerous man to refuse. But he meets his match in a retired schoolteacher called Masterji. Shah offers Masterji and his neighbors the residents of Vishram Society s Tower A, a once respectable, now crumbling apartment building on whose site Shah s luxury high rise would be built a generous buyout. They can t believe their good fortune. Except, that is, for Masterji, who refuses to abandon the building he has long called home. As the demolition deadline looms, desires mount; neighbors become enemies, and acquaintances turn into conspirators who risk losing their humanity to score their payday. Here is a richly told, suspense fueled story of ordinary people pushed to their limits in a place that knows none: the new India as only Aravind Adiga could explore and expose it. Vivid, visceral, told with both humor and poignancy, Last Man in Tower is his most stunning work yet. From the Hardcover edition.

Related Authors

Leave a Comment