Aravind Adiga
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Knopf (September 20, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307594092
ISBN-13: 978-0307594099
Literature &
Fiction
“Magnificent . . . A richly
evoked, Dickensian world that explores the chasm between rich and poor, the
venal and the incorruptible . . . Adiga succeeds in giving a voice and a sense
of humor to the powerless. . . . All human life—and longing—is here. Marvelous
stuff.”
—Sebastian
Shakespeare, The Tatler
Description
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.
Press
Review
“As with The White Tiger, [in Last Man in Tower] Adiga describes an India that is avaricious,
acquisitive and insecure. His earlier work told the story of a desperate, rural
poverty; Last Man in Tower depicts a
genteel middle-class impoverishment of imagination and hope. Whether it is
through the fight for water or the battle to board the commuter trains, Mr.
Adiga captures with heartbreaking authenticity the real struggle in Indian
cities, which is for dignity. A funny yet deeply melancholic work, Last Man in Tower is a brilliant, and
remarkably mature, second novel. A rare achievement.”
—The Economist
“As well-paced as
any crime story. Every one of the huge cast of characters is brilliantly drawn.
I’m aghast with admiration. There is no one writing fiction as good as this in
Britain or America.”
—Reader’s Digest
“Evocative,
entertaining, and angry . . . All of Adiga’s gifts for sharp social observation
and mordant wit [come] to the fore. . . . Teeming with life and skullduggery.”
—The Telegraph
“A subtle and
nuanced examination of the nature of personal corruption . . . [Adiga]
continues his project of shining a light on the changing face of India,
bringing us a picture that is as compelling as it is complex.”
—he Guardian
“Timely . . .
An unsettling novel, well suited to the febrile and shifting city it seeks to
reclaim.”
—The Observer
“Richly comedic . .
. Beautifully done. . . . Funny and engaging as he can be, Adiga never forgets
the seriousness of his subject . . . A morality tale for the modern age [that
is] as honest as it is entertaining.”
—The Times
"Acute
observations and sharp imagery . . . An indictment of the hypocritical mores of
the middle class, prepared to cut corners and take recourse to ‘number two
activities’ in its hurry to move up in life. Like all cautionary tales, it
embodies more than a little truth about our times.”
—Financial Times
“Ambitious . . .
Memorable . . . Adiga is Dickensian in the extent of his cast. Around his two
main characters he marshals more than 20 others . . . [He] lays out this
most frenetic of megalopolises before us, by turns fascinating, sensual and
horrifying, as his writing takes an impressive step onwards.”
—The Independent on Sunday
“Richly evocative .
. . To make a building such as a block of flats the frame for a novel has rich
possibilities in a modern world where lives are forever being forced together
by collective structures. . . . Adiga [shows] considerable skill at evoking the
quotidian lives, domestic and communal, of Tower A’s inhabitants.”
— The Sunday Times
Reader's
Review
powerful
character study,
September 22, 2011
By Harriet
Klausner
In Mumbai, India
real estate developer Dharmen Shah wants to tear down the dilapidated Vishram
Society Tower A building and construct a luxurious high-rise condo in its
place. Many of the current residents have resided in harmony there for years in
what is a melting pot mini community with Hindu, Muslim and Christians living
there. Regardless of religious beliefs, everyone even Communists accept the
exorbitant money offered by Shah though all knows this will end their community
as none will be able to afford the new edifice.
That is everyone
accepts the loot except retired widower schoolteacher Mr. Masterji. He refuses
to sell his ethics to the developer. Once a welcome part of the middle class
residents of Tower A, the teacher is now a pariah pressured to join the
avaricious mob.
Last man in the
Tower is a powerful character study that looks at the plight of a hold-out who
adheres to his principles though he does not quote understand why. With nods to
the movies Twelve Angry Men and Batteries Not Included, Aravind Adiga makes a strong
case that an apartment building is a harmonious hamlet until the capitalists
arrive with plenty of money. Readers will appreciate this deep look at what
makes a community and how easily the facade can be nuked.
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