The White Tiger

In this picaresque satirical novel, Balram Halwai is engulfed by New Delhi’s 21st-century materialism, and he leaves his family to establish his own identity and ambition. Adiga crafts a hilarious protagonist that cleverly shines a light on the Indian wealth and class division, as Balram is forced to experience both dimensions: poverty, where his family is trapped in the lowest rungs of the caste system, and luxury, where he becomes dazzled by success and excess, ultimately blinded by politics and greed. The debut novel won the Man Booker Prize in 2008.