Last Man in Tower

Mar 22, 2011 Sofia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: asia, literary

Sorry to start with a cliche, but wow. I have never been to India and I'm only somewhat familiar with Delhi. I didn't know anything about Mumbai before I read this. Sure, there's Slumdog Millionaire, but I haven't read the book and all I got from the movie was that there are very, very poor people living in slums next door to very luxurious buildings. Which also happens to be the case in Bangkok and Rio de Janeiro and other places. If you want to see, hear, smell, taste, truly experience Mumbai...more

26 likes · like · see review

Nov 03, 2011 Preeti rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: india, desi-authors

The first thing, the inevitable thing, is the comparison to The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga's first book that won the Man Booker Prize. (Side note: I have no idea about the awards most books win and don't really use those as a reason for reading - or not reading - a book.)

I thought The White Tiger packed a punch, it was in your face, fast-paced... None of these characteristics are present in this book. This book has more of a slow, trickling effect. It kind of creeps up on you and then leaves you...more

10 likes · like · see review

Feb 13, 2013 Jillwilson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Note that I would prefer to give this book three and a half stars.

In my mind’s eye I can see the Tower A of the Vishram Housing Society in Vakola, a district of Mumbai near the domestic airport. The façade of the ageing block of flats has been damaged by water over time and is grimy with age and pollution from the exhausts of the autocabs that ply the district. There is a smell from a sewer nearby. ”But Vishram Society's virtues outweigh its failings; a model of neighbourliness and middle-class...more Note that I would prefer to give this book three and a half stars.

In my mind’s eye I can see the Tower A of the Vishram Housing Society in Vakola, a district of Mumbai near the domestic airport. The façade of the ageing block of flats has been damaged by water over time and is grimy with age and pollution from the exhausts of the autocabs that ply the district. There is a smell from a sewer nearby. ”But Vishram Society's virtues outweigh its failings; a model of neighbourliness and middle-class virtue, it brings together those of different backgrounds – originally built for a Catholic population, it admitted Hindus in the 1960s and "the better kind of Muslim" in the 80s – in harmonious testimony to the possibility of cooperative living.” (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/...)

This novel works as a fictional twin to Behind the Beautiful Forevers that I read last year. Both novels focus on change in Mumbai and on the impact on people who do not ordinarily wield much power.
As the title suggests, one man in this novel is positioned to hold out against the redevelopment of the land on which the apartments stand into a luxury high-rise apartment building named ‘The Shanghai’ (I loved this name – conjuring up the forest of tall buildings in Shanghai, the ravaging behemoth of development, the global confusion of modern life, the original meaning of the word ‘shanghai’). The narrative focuses on the inner politics of the block of flats as neighbours are pitted against each other as the lure of money is dangled in front of them. Quite quickly, the thin veneer of civilisation falls away and people’s behaviour becomes primal. For me, most of the characters remained as curiosities rather than as fully fleshed-out people; in this, it is much like Dickens, (even extending to a couple of wonderful lawyer scenes). Adiga’s skills, like Dickens, are in creating the conversations and relationships between people, and in describing the jostling urban atmosphere of Mumbai.

I listened to the book on CD. For the first time ever, I thought this was a mistake. The reader used an Indian-English accent rather than a straight rendering. I didn’t like it, it made the characters seem faintly ridiculous, very ‘other’. I agree with this assessment though: “Adiga also manages to thicken his narrative with a subtle and nuanced examination of the nature of personal corruption – more subtle, in fact, than in his powerfully scathing first novel, The White Tiger, which won the Man Booker prize in 2008. His targets here are similar: the web-like social structures that surround citizens, creating a stasis that defies attempts at progress; the vacuum created by misgovernance that allows greed and envy to flourish; the bureaucracy – represented here by a double-talking lawyer straight from the pages of Dickens – that creates the illusion of order and justice while perpetuating the opposite. "You and I were trapped," the real-estate broker Mr Ajwani, one of the novel's most ambiguous figures, tells Mrs Rego, "but we wanted to be trapped," and the novel goes the distance in exploring the attraction of collusion.” (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/...) It reads as an authentic portrayal of some of the big issues that ‘shining’ India faces. (And incidentally, reading the morning papers here, we are not immune from the corrupt and collusive practises of property developers and authorities in Australia).(less)

like · see review

Jan 09, 2013 Indiabookstore rated it 3 of 5 stars

Aravind Adiga – It was just that name that beckoned me to read “Last Man in Tower”. The “Man Booker Prize” raised Adiga to the zenith of popularity and deemed an eternal popularity to all of his future works. “The White Tiger”, an excellent debut novel is one my favorite reads (made me roll over in mirth, many a time).The book gave a thought provoking insight about India and New Delhi in particular. “Last man in Tower”, the third of Adiga’s works, continues in the same genre.

This time around, th...more

like · see review

Dec 04, 2012 Vaiju rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is a fitting follow up to author Adiga's Man Booker winning White Tiger.

Last Man in Tower, (Atlantic Books), is the story of modern India and the turmoil caused by economic and financial transition. Vishram Cooperative Housing Society’s Tower A is a relic from a construction project in the 1950s. When a property developer offers to buy the building from the residents to redevelop the property, the middle class residents all react differently. All the residents are persuaded by the dev...more

like · see review

Oct 16, 2012 Larry rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another excellent book by Aravind Adiga on class conflict in the economic and social turmoil of modern-day India.

The story revolves around the families and individuals inhabiting a small co-operative apartment building in Mumbai. As rapid urban development expands into the slum areas, unscrupulous developers are acquiring property in any way possible, often playing slum-dwellers against one another.

“New financial buildings were opening every month…and the lucre in their vaults, like butter on a...more

like · see review

May 19, 2012 The-vault rated it 2 of 5 stars

By Aravind Adiga. Grade: B
Ask any Bombaywallah about Tower A of the Vishram Co-operative Housing Society and you will be told that it is unimpeachably pucca. Despite its location close to the airport and bordered by slums, it has been pucca for some fifty years. But then Bombay has changed in half a century – not least its name – and the world in which Tower A was first built is giving way to a new city, a Mumbai of new development and new money; of wealthy Indians returning with fortunes made a...more By Aravind Adiga. Grade: B
Ask any Bombaywallah about Tower A of the Vishram Co-operative Housing Society and you will be told that it is unimpeachably pucca. Despite its location close to the airport and bordered by slums, it has been pucca for some fifty years. But then Bombay has changed in half a century – not least its name – and the world in which Tower A was first built is giving way to a new city, a Mumbai of new development and new money; of wealthy Indians returning with fortunes made abroad.

When real estate developer Dharmen Shah offers to buy out the residents of Vishram Society, planning to use the site to build a luxury apartment complex, his offer is more than generous. Yet not everyone wants to leave; many of them no longer young. But none can benefit from the offer unless all agree to sell. As tensions rise, one by one those who oppose the offer give in to the pressure of the majority, until only one man stands in the way of Shah’s luxury high-rise: Masterji, a retired schoolteacher, once the most respected man in the building.
Shah is a dangerous man to refuse, but as the demolition deadline looms, Masterji’s neighbours – friends who have become enemies, acquaintances turned co-conspirators – may stop at nothing to score their payday.
A suspense-filled story of money and power, luxury and deprivation; a rich tapestry peopled by unforgettable characters, not least of which is Bombay itself, Last Man in Tower opens up the hearts and minds of the inhabitants of a great city – ordinary people pushed to their limits in a place that knows none.
The story is set in the suburbs of Mumbai. An ambitious builder Dharmen Shah plans a huge construction project and pitches an offer to the residents of Vishram Society. Tower A, the older wing of Vishram Society, has been donning the horizon of Vakola since the very inception of this suburb. Almost all the residents of Tower A accept this magnanimous offer and decide to move out of the building which offered only dust and remains of the past instead of basic amenities like electricity, water etc. The only people resisting this offer are Masterji and his friends. Masterji, whose family’s memories were enmeshed in every corner of this house; a house he had made into home, refused to leave it for this very reason. Without a unanimous decision, the offer could not be carried out and everybody would stand to lose. What do the other residents of Tower A do – they submit to the wishes and whims of their old, fragile neighbour or take matters into their own hands – is what the story tells.
To begin with, the novel is pretty classy in its form and structure. The way it begins – with a list of residents of Tower A – adds to the flavour of the plot. The author begins the plot with a brief overview of the suburban area of Mumbai in which the plot is set from every standpoint – demographic, geographical, religious and political – all of which goes a long way in contributing to the context of the plot. He then goes on to describe how the daily proceedings of a typical society fare in metropolitan cities. This is just a glimpse of the kind of build-up which the plot has to back it up.
The writing style is really par excellence. It is a syntactical treat. The way the words have been chosen, the phrases and sentences have been formed is plain lavish. The story literally flows from one page to the next. The chapters have been adequately spaced, the timeline proceeds dreamily and most importantly, the characters have been sketched to perfection. They have been brought to life with such ease that it is very difficult not to connect with them. The prose is like the icing on the cake.
“… A hush of covert business had fallen over a garrulous Society. Amidst the silent germination of schemes and ambitions all around him, Masterji sat like a cyst…”
The analogy of the budding natural growth to that of change in the Society and Masterji being the inactive, unchanging cyst is really a treat in itself.
The only thing which it lacks in is the plot. The plot in itself is not that good. It is a very average plot of greed, ambition and falsehood mixed with complex emotions. It is the writing which salvages the show. Had it not been for the way this novel has been written, it could have been a very mediocre attempt.
What Last Man in Tower does is that it at times gives such great insights into human nature – when they are desperate, pushed to the edge and could lose everything without being able to control anything. It shows us the dark side of common people who are on the verge of losing that one thing whose pursuit is both dangerous and precious – a dream. Whether it serves any other purpose or not, Last Man in Tower does a two-fold bang-up job. One, it demonstrates how richness of the prose can elevate a mediocre plot and two, showcases the very fine line between right and wrong, the line we know as conscience.

Originally reviewed at :http://the-vault.co.cc (less)

2 likes · like · see review

Apr 28, 2012 Fanatique Francaise rated it 3 of 5 stars

Adiga returns with a powerful, well-researched, and gripping novel about the underside of India.

I think I'm too young and inexperienced to really grasp the dark and almost scary picture that Adiga creates of Mumbai (India's industrial hub), but thankfully for me, he manifests that very chaos in the lives of the inhabitants of a building about to be torn down by a builder in his extravagant plans for expansion.. The conflict experienced by the inhabitants who are reluctant to let go of their live...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 08, 2012 Mary Mahoney rated it 4 of 5 stars

Arivind Adiga, a young but already prolific writer about the "new" India, has published his third book, Last Man in Tower about raw human nature and the economics and morality of housing development in India's financial center: Mumbai. Mumbai has the most expensive legitimate housing in Asia (between $10,000 and $14,000 per month for a condo) and not so surprisingly, has one of Asia's biggest slum populations.

There is an "in-between" type of housing called chawl that is much better than slum pr...more Arivind Adiga, a young but already prolific writer about the "new" India, has published his third book, Last Man in Tower about raw human nature and the economics and morality of housing development in India's financial center: Mumbai. Mumbai has the most expensive legitimate housing in Asia (between $10,000 and $14,000 per month for a condo) and not so surprisingly, has one of Asia's biggest slum populations.

There is an "in-between" type of housing called chawl that is much better than slum property, but it's not comparable in reliability or services to the luxury sector. For a very detailed description of chawl, see Vikrim Chandra's Sacred Games.

Adiga's story is about the human, economic and political dynamics of a real estate developer, Dharmen Shah, who wants to buy out two buildings inhabited by middle class people. Before the suggestion of buy-out, Tower A, built in the 1950's and Tower B, built in the late 1970's were self-governing by societies that met in each tower when the tenants saw fit. There was almost no turnover
and the tenants all seemed to know each other. However, there were several drawbacks to life in the towers---drawbacks that plagued many other Indian communities, urban and rural. First, the buildings were structurally flawed. They were visibly crumbling. Second, although many urban tenants had to wait for the water tap to come on twice a day for limited hours to supply daily needs,
Vishram Society Tower A and B were even more erratic than their neighbors. Third, an open sewer, entirely unprocessed, ran through the neighborhood, creating a hazard for pets and people. These drawbacks pertained to a legitimately built urban apartment tower, and not to slum dwellings.

Shah and his partner go tower by tower making offers for each flat excessively over their present market value. They want to buy everyone out so that they can knock down Tower A and B and then erect the luxury tower Shanghai. Tower B tenants sign promptly
on the dotted line, collect their payments in rapid installments, and move out. Tower A tenants feel the same way except for a brilliant and bereaved retired teacher affectionately called "Masterji." Adiga provides excellent character development of all the tenants
in Tower A, as each tenant tells a story of family hope as they sign off on Shah's extremely generous offers for each of their flats. Each family also tries to persuade Masterji, a once beloved teacher who lost his wife to cancer and his daughter to being accidentally
pushed out of a women's compartment in a commuter train. Masterji lost both of his beloved women in one year. His son is essentially estranged, capable of emotional brutality.

Masterji believes that his bond with his neighbors will last through the buyout crisis. Slowly things start to change. Someone paints Masterji into his apartment by using human excrement as the paint. Masterji gets a bucket and steel wool and scrubs his way out. He's never been treated this way. Next his neighbors arrange a tabloid news article about Masterji's obstruction of their wishes. The practical measures taken by the neighbors escalate every several days. Eventually the measures against Masterji step beyond imagination. In a society where the police and the press have a price tag on them, there is little accountability.

Adiga continues to focus on the many factors that create the chasm between constitutions, municipal laws, and other statutes on the one hand and common practice in India on the other. These discrepancies exist in other democracies as well, but are often brought to the surface by investigative reporting and other activities of the press.
(less)

like · see review

Mar 22, 2012 Vidya Tiru rated it 4 of 5 stars

My Take: This was a book that left me devastated in the end. It was kind of reading an adult version of Lord of the Flies in a different setting.
The book is set in Vakola, Mumbai and focuses on the residents of Vishram Society. The apartment complexes that make up the Society are eyed by Shah, a real estate developer who plans to build his dream there. His efforts to clear the buildings in order to realize his dream – by making generous (in the real estate world) financial offers to the resident...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 20, 2012 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I loved "White Tiger" by this author and decided I had to read this newer book. I did not like it as much, however, it did contain a lot of the same things I liked about this author's writing style from White Tiger.

I was not totally drawn into this book's plot as much as I was hoping. I thought it was a bit too long and just not quite gripping enough. I found the ending to not be completely convincing, in terms of these peoples' moral failings. So that was an issue--I definitely did not find it...more

4 likes · like · see review

Oct 31, 2011 Vijay rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As somebody who is living in India, I have experienced the massive real estate growth that has taken place in India in the last few years. Buying a home was a middle class aspiration for a long time and one which people strove for in their life.

Slowly but surely, this dream is getting out of reach for a majority of Indian people. Property prices have sky-rocketed in cities leaving ordinary middle class aspirants reeling. Just a cursory look at how the business is conducted in India shows how uno...more

5 likes · like · see review

Oct 06, 2011 Felice rated it 5 of 5 stars

A couple years ago author AravindAdiga had a big critical and commercial hit with the Man Booker winning The White Tiger. It was a funny, gritty, grisly, wonderful, contemporary Horatio Alger/ Kind Hearts and Coronets story set in India. Adiga’s new novel, Last Man In Tower, can be described with all the same adjectives (and then some) except this time he’s not creating his version of a dark rags to riches story but the classic Kaufman and Hart play, You Can’t Take It With You.

The tower itself i...more A couple years ago author AravindAdiga had a big critical and commercial hit with the Man Booker winning The White Tiger. It was a funny, gritty, grisly, wonderful, contemporary Horatio Alger/ Kind Hearts and Coronets story set in India. Adiga’s new novel, Last Man In Tower, can be described with all the same adjectives (and then some) except this time he’s not creating his version of a dark rags to riches story but the classic Kaufman and Hart play, You Can’t Take It With You.

The tower itself is Tower A in an apartment complex that is handily situated near both the slums and the airport in Mumbai. Tower A isn’t the bright pink it used to be, has any number of maintenance issues but it does boast the Vishram Society. The Society is made up of the residents of the tower. They are a close knit, middle class proud, virtuous group. When the Tower first opened it was for Catholics only. Diversity was gradual, in the 1960’s Hindus were admitted followed by Muslims in the 1980’s. They may gossip about each other but they are devoted to one another and if not over the moon happy they are at least trying.

Enter the villain. Dharmen Shah, ruthless real estate developer. Shah wants to demolish the apartment complex in order to make way for luxury redevelopments. He and his jack of all mayhem Shanmugham have already emptied Tower B. That one was easy-pickings. It was filled with young executives eager to rise in the world. Tower A however is proving more difficult. Its residents are long term and consider the tower their home.

So far so very You Can’t Take It With You. In the play the grasping industrialist needs to buy the homestead of the poor but honest family (Along with every house on the block.) in order to build a factory and make even more money on the backs of the oppressed. There the moral center of the story, the man who can stand up to Big Business is the family patriarch Grandpa, Lionel Barrymore in the movie. In Last Man in Tower the shining guidepost, the man who wants to save them all is Masterji. He becomes the leader of the opposition. The residents form an unofficial parliament to try and stop the evil developer played in the movie by the unsung Edward Arnold and in the book by Dharmen Shah.

Now the play/movie and the novel diverge. The play celebrates the mythical homespun virtues of the populace, love and individuality. Last Man In Tower is more complex. The residents are close but not blood and their problems are not the adorable problems of a 1930’s fantasy. They are unified in saving their homes but for how long can they hold out against the offers of money, which they could all use and when money doesn’t work, the threats of violence?

Adiga pulls out his amazing talents and provides us with all the fascinating particulars of the residents and the developer. Their motives, weakness and eccentricities are illustrated with deceptive simplicity. Adiga leads us down the path we expect to follow since we know that the underdog is the good guy and the rich guy is the villain. Then something happens and the reader is challenged. Is it so bad to want more? To not feel compelled to look out for everyone? Does the past need to be preserved? Is progress the same as greed? Does righteousness go hand and hand with narcissism?

Last Man In Tower is an even stronger novel than White Tiger. Aravind Adiga has taken a well worn idea and made it his own. He takes a hard view of personal and public corruption in Last Man In Tower. However instead of relentlessly, humorlessly grinding his axe on every page he fills the narrative with a Dickensian passion for social evils wrapped around a wide ranging plot that balances absurdity and disgusted honesty with varied and colorful characters. The bonuses for readers are the sudden discoveries of poignancy and fraudulence among Adiga’s shifting relationships and politics.
(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Sep 28, 2011 Paula rated it 2 of 5 stars

Aravind Adiga, brinda-nos com o seu 3º romance “O Último Homem na Torre”. Uma história que nos mostra, uma vez mais, uma Índia corrupta, onde os interesses materiais sobrepõem-se aos valores humanos.
A narrativa desenvolve-se na Cooperativa Vishram à volta da qual bairros degradados crescem a uma velocidade atroz!
Os habitantes da Cooperativa, apesar da consciência daquilo que lhes cerca, mantêm-se com uma “respeitabilidade burguesa” no edifício que lhes é querido. Onde a água visita as torneiras...more

1 like · like · see review

Sep 27, 2011 Tony rated it 3 of 5 stars

Adiga's acerbic and darkly funny debut novel, The White Tiger, won the 2008 Booker Prize, so expectations are high for this one. I quite liked the earlier book for its unabashed class warfare plotline and compelling moral ambiguity. This one deals with similar themes: invoking the aspirations of rich, poor, and middle class in a story revolving around a developer's attempt to buy out the residents of an old building in Mumbai so he can tear it down and build a luxury condo. The catch is that acc...more Adiga's acerbic and darkly funny debut novel, The White Tiger, won the 2008 Booker Prize, so expectations are high for this one. I quite liked the earlier book for its unabashed class warfare plotline and compelling moral ambiguity. This one deals with similar themes: invoking the aspirations of rich, poor, and middle class in a story revolving around a developer's attempt to buy out the residents of an old building in Mumbai so he can tear it down and build a luxury condo. The catch is that according to the terms of the buyout, the residents must unanimously accept the offer or it will be withdrawn. Naturally, the plot revolves around whether or not anyone will hold out, and what will happen when one inevitably refuses to sell.

Unfortunately, this never creates as much narrative tension as it should. Although the building holds a wide array of occupants, they mostly fail to come alive as real people. The cast is so large and the author flits among them without much regard for pace or style, and as a result the whole book drags. At the heart of it all is the last holdout, a widower and retired schoolteacher who gradually finds himself pitted against his family, his friends, and his city. Thankfully, Adiga has retained his ability to write in shades of gray and the schoolteacher, while occupying a kind of knee-jerk moral high ground, is shown to be far from faultless in his own right. Similarly, one finds strands of sympathy for the developer, who could have been a caricature capitalist, and whose project is less about making money than it is about his need to leave some kind of tangible mark on the world.

It's the kind of story that tempts one to blurt "a pox on both their houses" and walk away, but of course someone has to win out in the end, and given the author's sensibilities, the result should hardly come as a surprise. Make no mistake, the message from The White Tiger carries over to this book: in modern India, cash is an acid and eat away at everything it touches, especially society. Despite its narrative shortcomings, the book does remain rich in texture and detail concerning modern India, and as such, should be given a chance by anyone interested in the country in general and Mumbai in particular (it would be well paired with books like Maximum City or Sacred Games). It's also worth reading by those interested in issues of urban development, especially in the less-developed world.

POSTSCRIPT
It just ocurs to me that Adiga might be trying something cleverish in the following respect: the developer is actually purchasing two neighboring buildings, one is Tower A and the one the story revolves around is Tower B. And when one starts thinking about two matched "towers" about to be destroyed in the name of progress, it's hard (as an American reader, at least), not to start thinking about 9/11. I can't quite connect the dots in a way that makes sense of it all, but I'll throw it out there as something for others to chew on.(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Sep 13, 2011 Nagesh rated it 2 of 5 stars

Somehow I feel something about his nation of birth has rubbed him (Arvind Adiga) very wrongly

I see only a pessimistic view of most things and the same views get translated into words in his stories

I pretty much did not like "White Tiger" and really honestly wondered how it deserved the Booker Prize, but this one is also nothing great to write about

The plot looked interesting from the back-page hence I went on to read it. The start of the story is also intersting, the description of the mohalla,...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jun 25, 2011 Candace rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. You may be wondering why I have all these five star books. No, I am not easily pleased, but life being what it is, who has time to review mediocre stuff? Share the good! Share the worthwhile! And this novel is definitely worthwhile.

I liked "Last Man in Tower" better than "The White Tiger"--A book I enjoyed a lot. "Last Man" is just as gritty and compelling, and carries that same sort of horror factor that "White Tiger" did. Not horror in terms of zombies, but horror in seeing what people can bec...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 09, 2012 David Dicolen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have developed this extreme fondness with anything India over my love for its vast culture and beautiful geographical locations, not to mention Varanasi and Taj Majal, plus my growing obsession with the Bollywood industry and the influence of my Indian blockmate who is a citizen of Punjabi. They are the reasons to say the least, why I have bought this book while I was trying to find an Indian author when I went to a bookstore last month. The problem is, I did set a high expectation with this b...more I have developed this extreme fondness with anything India over my love for its vast culture and beautiful geographical locations, not to mention Varanasi and Taj Majal, plus my growing obsession with the Bollywood industry and the influence of my Indian blockmate who is a citizen of Punjabi. They are the reasons to say the least, why I have bought this book while I was trying to find an Indian author when I went to a bookstore last month. The problem is, I did set a high expectation with this book considering one of the feedbacks I read online was that this is actually better than Slumdog Millionaire but it turned out that this was actually lacking all the appeal I was expecting it to have. The story is only about the residents of Vishram Society, Tower A (an apartment building) who were offered a fair amount of money for a relocation, because a certain real estate developer by the name of Dharmen Shah wanted to reconstruct the place and build an empire, in the hopes of continuing his legacy and eventually call the building as Shanghai. Everybody agreed with the offer except for an old man by the name of Masterji who was later killed by some of his closest neighbors into complying with the agreement and eventually receive their payment for leaving the place. Sure the book tackled about bribery, involvement of money, poverty, conspiracies, losing humanity, desires and absurdities that took place between some of the best characters of the book and sure Masterji’s notable conviction of standing with what he believes in is admirable enough he was almost a fictional version of Gandhi, but the storyline honestly was too dull and too mediocre I didn’t know how the author managed to put it in a 555 page book. The only thing that compensated with all the insanity this has given me was the presentation of Mumbai with such a sharp and vivid perspective and it was great to think how I have managed to feel like I was in the same place as well. Still, I finished this book only for the sake of finishing it. 3/5 stars obviously.(less)

like · see review

Jan 03, 2012 Ajay rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book complusively. I have witnessed first hand the real estate growth in India. I have seen the naked greed and aspirations of the middle class (of which I am a part too). I have seen the extreme religiosity and the erosion of moral values (morality and religion are not to be confused here). Adiga takes all this and packages it in a compelling tale of desire, greed and ambition. I could almost see the characters living and breathing. It was a visual read. This is one book that is scr...more

2 likes · like · see review

Oct 09, 2011 Pia rated it 5 of 5 stars

I liked The White Tiger, I loved Between the Assassinations, but I adored Last Man in Tower. I think part of the reason this book was so poignant to me was the clear connection between the characters in this book and real life. My grandmother's society in Bandra East is about to be dismantled and pretty much everything that is happening in this story may very well be happening in real life. In the spirit of RK Narayan and Rohinton Mistry, Aravind Adiga's Vishram Society is so true-to-life; the c...more

4 likes · like · see review

Oct 04, 2012 Sundarraj Kaushik rated it 3 of 5 stars

The city of Bombay, on one hand, has many old buildings many of which are dilapidated and on the verge of collapsing. To facilitate the rebuilding of such structures the government has formulated a law called Transfer of Development Rights by which the residents of the Housing Society of the building can transfer rights to a builder who will build a new building for them. To finance this project the builder will buy extra area (equal to the current area of flats that can be built on the land) fr...more The city of Bombay, on one hand, has many old buildings many of which are dilapidated and on the verge of collapsing. To facilitate the rebuilding of such structures the government has formulated a law called Transfer of Development Rights by which the residents of the Housing Society of the building can transfer rights to a builder who will build a new building for them. To finance this project the builder will buy extra area (equal to the current area of flats that can be built on the land) from the Municipality of Bombay (or other builders who have been allotted extra area for the social service that they have rendered by building houses for the poor) and build new tenements which he will sell at a premium.
This has been a phenomenon that has been going on for more than a decade now. In the process many of the occupants of these dilapidated structures had struck gold mine if their building happens to be in a prime locality.
The whole book is based on the above phenomenon. Vishram is a society which consists of two towers, one old and one new, located in the Vakola suburb of Bombay. The newer tower has yuppies and the older tower has mainly retired people of different religious and ethnic backgrounds who in the evening of their lives living peacefully without much care. Each family is living with its own set of problems and issue which they feel could be solved if they had more money.
A builder, Mr. Shah, sets his eyes on these towers and makes an offer to buy out the flats of all the residents of these towers at two and half to three times the going rate of flats in this area and sets a deadline before which the residents need to sign the contract. This excites all the residents. The residents of the newer tower concede almost instantly to the offer and send in their acceptance. The older tower has an old teacher, an old christian couple, a single woman known as the communist and the secretary of the building. Everybody else is eager to go for the offer.
The teacher's son has broken away from him and is living in South Bombay. The teacher has been having lunch and dinner in the christian couple's house after his wife's death. The christian couple's children are in the US and the husband of the communist woman has moved out with somebody else.
The master in fact states that he will refuse to take the money from the broker because the christian couple's wife who is blind states that she will be lost if she has to move from this society at this stage. This becomes an obsession with him and slowly but surely while the others renege or buckle under the pressure of threat or lure of more money the old teacher remains steadfast confounding the builder to no end.
In the end the builder tempts the residents of the society to boycott the master to induce him to concede to the request. But the old teacher remains steadfast. Finally a real estate broker who has been talking with the left hand man of the builder and a few others resolve to do away with the old teacher. The broker is given the main responsibility while the others agree to support him in his act by providing him strong alibi.
On the said day the broker decides to visit a whorehouse in the red-light area of Bombay. Here his conscience starts pricking him and he hold himself back. The other member of group lose their patience and do away with the master with each one playing his or her role in the teacher's disposal.
They eventually sign the agreement with the builder. The book ends with them waiting for the second installment of the payment.
The book has brought out very well how for the greed of money men and women will go to any extent.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Dec 19, 2012 Vinti rated it 3 of 5 stars

“Never judge a book by its cover” is an old adage. But today an impressive cover covers maximum attention .

Back flap of this cover reads:

“A suspense-filled story of money and power, luxury and deprivation, a rich tapestry peopled by unforgettable characters, not least of which is Bombay itself, Last Man In Tower opens up the hearts and minds of the inhabitants of a great city- ordinary people pushed to their limits in a place that knows none.”

About:

(a) The maximum city of India- Mumbai. Its the...more

like · see review

Jan 30, 2012 Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars

brilliant moments, gives a real feeling of Mumbai, not as captivating as The White Tiger...filled with insight and excruciatingly real human behaviour. One of my favourite passages is:
Sunbaked and sweating, looking like a big pink baby, a foreign man in a singlet and blue shorts was jogging down the pavement, slowly enough for his Indian minder to follow him on foot.
Ajwani saw four young men in polyester shirts gaping at the foreigner. They had been chatting and cackling a moment ago, comment...more

like · see review

Jul 18, 2011 Mohammad Moonis rated it 5 of 5 stars

“Last Man in Tower” presents the dynamic but predictable relationship between the people of Mumbai and the city. It is also better than expected story from the Booker prize-winning writer. In one line, it is the one old man’s fight against a builder, who is going to demolish the old man’s society to erect a new one. The old man, major protagonists, Masterji has memories of his deceased daughter and wife associated with Vishram Society. His emotional attachment clashes with the dreams of fellow r...more

like · see review

Nov 03, 2012 Martha added it · review of another edition

Shelves: f-novel, l-indian, read-2012-13

"Another express sped past, and this time, the warm wind rushing between the trains felt like a spell. The faces of the commuters opposite him looked potent, magical, even demonic - as if they were creatures from another world: or perhaps always present in his world, well-hidden, exposed now by the jarring energy released by the passing of the engines."

...

"Only a man must want something; for everyone who lives here knows that the islands will shake, and the mortar of the city will dissolve, and...more

like · see review

Mar 28, 2012 Jay rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

My first Adiga book, I found it a humorous, movie-like satire on how the offer of money can change people. I found the story line was somewhat universal -- it could happen elsewhere, but in the US it would have become a legal thriller. In the India of this novel the "good" people of the tower took care of their issue themselves, acting out the old saying "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." I found this interesting as the characters acted, well, foreign, and the description of...more

like · see review

Dec 23, 2011 Sindhuja rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, e-book

In spite of Adiga's first book winning the Booker, I never got around to reading 'The White Tiger', thanks to the bad reviews it got from most of my Indian friends. I decided to get over that prejudice and read this one and I must say that I am not disappointed at all. What I love about the book and his writing is his ability to perfectly describe the idiosyncrasies of an Indian 'society' - the simple, yet complex relationships between neighbors, the general attitude of people living in an India...more

like · see review

Apr 21, 2013 Krista rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013

Here's Russell Peters on being Indian:

All my life I've been identifying myself as an Indian man. I'm always like, I'm Indian. What are you? I'm Indian. Where you from? I'm Indian. What do you mean, where am I from? I'm Indian. And then I realised something. I was born and raised in Canada. There's nothing Indian about me! The only thing Indian about me are my parents and my skin tone. That's it! Culturally, I'm not Indian at all. And the only reason I know this is because last year I went to Ind...more

like · see review

Jun 25, 2011 Wolf rated it 3 of 5 stars

There is a point when Adiga’s latest suddenly comes to life. The man last holding out in the tower block, not prepared to sell to a developer, seems to have run out of ways to fight the builder whilst others in the block are desperate that they might have miss the deadline for accepting the builder’s deadline and prepare to try and force the old man’s hand. The story gains dynamism, strength and tension. Sadly, by this point I was about three-quarters of the way through the book.

It isn’t easy to...more There is a point when Adiga’s latest suddenly comes to life. The man last holding out in the tower block, not prepared to sell to a developer, seems to have run out of ways to fight the builder whilst others in the block are desperate that they might have miss the deadline for accepting the builder’s deadline and prepare to try and force the old man’s hand. The story gains dynamism, strength and tension. Sadly, by this point I was about three-quarters of the way through the book.

It isn’t easy to pin point exactly why the rest of the book doesn’t sparkle. It certainly contains some beautiful writing. Adiga has a gift, reminiscent of Graham Greene, to pick striking conceits and metaphors: young rich Indians compared with plump glossy chicken breasts on a rotisserie; a statuette of Ganesha at a lawyer’s office is ‘like a soft white rat living on the staircase’.

It lacks the vibrancy of ‘The White Tiger’, Adiga’s Booker winning first novel, however. There is no sharp and witty narrator here, but there is also rather less of the narrative drive of the first book. Part of the problem might be in its rather too diffuse focus on a number of characters. Whilst the issue is nothing like as severe as a glance at the rather intimidating list of all the residents of the tower block at the beginning might lead one to fear, there are seven or eight important view point characters.

In some ways it is closer to the short stories of ‘Between the Assassinations’ as a result – where Adiga showed a gift for realising characters with deft strokes. There are many similarities between some of the characters shown there and the disappointed middle class inhabitants of the tower block. Thematically, there are strong similarities too: the individual’s fight against corruption, principle against the combination of society and individual self interest. Here, for the central character at least, there are also Greene-like questions of divided loyalty.

But whilst in ‘Between the Assassinations’ the stories of each individual command attention here the split focus seems to mean that many characters never properly develop. Even the main character, Masterji, felt flat, never fully developing a life of his own, for me at least, beyond the ticks and past incidents worked out in advance by the author. Others are weaker. The important character of Mrs Rego, who should be sympathetic and who plays an increasingly important role in how events unfold, remains uninteresting, one note and not wholly convincing.

This issue is highlighted because there is a character who has all the life and vibrancy lacking elsewhere. Mr Shah, the builder and developer and the white tiger of this book, is compelling. A self-made man, Mephistophelian in his dealings and determined to build his great project (‘Gothic style, Rajput porch, Art Deco fountain. My life story in one building.’) as a statement about himself but also as a gift to the future of the city that allowed him to drag himself up from his humble beginnings. In his struggles with his delinquent son, loved and also capable of being used as a prop in his business deals, his young mistress and ‘left hand man’ he leaps from the page.

Intellectually, one suspects, Adiga’s sympathy lies with the divided characters in the tower but his interest lies with the figure behind it all, pulling the strings.

In the end, then, Adiga’s latest novel disappoints to some extent. He has not recaptured the formula that made ‘White Tiger’ so successful. On the other hand, judged on its own terms, there book still has enough to make it a worthwhile read.
(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Apr 09, 2012 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm a little surprised by many of the tepid reviews here. I was truly impressed with Aravind Adiga's ability to write a literate, plot-driven tragicomedy that manages to ask some big questions. The novel is funny, literate, bitter, and profound, and it deserves our attention and respect.

The plot is pretty straightforward. Occupants of a cooperative apartment building are offered a small fortune by a developer so he can tear their building down and build a new luxury apartment tower. However, the...more

1 like · like · see review

topics	posts	views	last activity
I want to buy "Last Man In Tower" by Aravind Adiga	1	13	Nov 10, 2012 11:31am
Masterji was a jerk?	6	41	Sep 14, 2012 07:18am

title link	preview: Last Man in Tower
avg rating	preview: Last Man in Tower Goodreads rating: 3.49 (2350 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10854908-last-man-in-tower?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328165348l/10854908.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10854908-last-man-in-tower?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Last Man in Tower by Aravind Adiga[/url]

Last Man in Tower

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (34)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Aravind Adiga

Books by Aravind Adiga

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About Last Man in Tower...

Quotes from Last Man in Tower