From the Bookshelf of Bookmarks Subscribers …
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
Songs for the Missing by Stewart O'Nan
By Betsy · 11 posts · 28 views
By Betsy · 11 posts · 28 views
last updated Oct 27, 2011 08:06AM
What Members Thought
Oct 26, 2008
Linda
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
book-discussion-read
Balram Halwai was born in the dark country of India. He is dubbed "White Tiger" by a teacher who doesn't teach because the government isn't paying him his salary. Instead, the teacher steals the money sent for the students' uniforms and sleeps on the job. This is only the first of many corrupt situations Balram recognizes and confronts.
Balram is originally the "white tiger" because he is rare - a student who can read. Throughout the book Balram's actions are unusual for his station and position ...more
Balram is originally the "white tiger" because he is rare - a student who can read. Throughout the book Balram's actions are unusual for his station and position ...more
At the end of the novel, Balram predicts that
I'm a little stumped about how to review this book. I found it very interesting and provocative, but I often felt uncomfortable that the characters were a bit caricature-ish. The overall picture of India presented in this novel is very negative, with no honorable characters. Mahatma Gandhi is mocked as an irrelevant icon in today's India. Certainly India is a complicated country, undergoing rapid change. My depth of knowledge about India is limited, for sure. So I enjoyed getting an inside view
...more
A darkly comic look at the class differences in modern India. Its unlike any other novel I've read that was set in India.
...more
This was the book groups book for April... I think....
Jun 13, 2009
Kristina
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
book-club-reads,
kindle-edition
Jul 10, 2009
Jaime
marked it as to-read
Jul 20, 2009
Belinda Burkhart
marked it as to-read
Oct 10, 2009
Rita
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
own-not-yet-read,
bee-shelf
May 30, 2010
Bronwyn
marked it as to-read
