![]() ![]() The writing of the novel, said Adiga, had come out of his career as a journalist, and his encounters - as a relatively privileged middle-class man - with members of India's underclass. By lying, betraying and using his sharp intelligence, Balram makes his ascent into the heady heights of Bangalore's big business. Its antihero and narrator, Balram Halwai, is a cocksure, uneducated young man, the son of an impoverished rickshaw driver. The White Tiger takes a sharp and unblinking look at the reality of India's economic miracle. "It was pretty close," said Portillo, and in the last stages it was down to a battle between The White Tiger and one other book. Adiga's book won by a "sufficient", but by no means unanimous, margin. Michael Portillo, the chair of the judges, talked of a final panel meeting characterised by "passionate debate". He is only the fourth first time novelist to win the prize, after Keri Hulme in 1985, Arundhati Roy in 1997 and DBC Pierre in 2003 - and he is the second youngest after Ben Okri, who won in 1991 aged 32. ![]()
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