Last Man in Tower in Around the World in 80 Books

Sep 27, 2011 Tony rated it liked it

Shelves: novels, setting-india

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 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 The catch is that according to the terms of the buyout, the residents must unanimously accept the offer or it will be withdrawn.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. ...more

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Jul 07, 2013 Mary rated it it was amazing

I absolutely love this book and its truth as to the Indian mindset. The novel is set in Mumbai and revolves around one particular Vishram society and its residents. An eclectic mixture of people reside in the two dilapidated towers – Tower A and Tower B that the society comprises of. Yogesh Murthy, better known as the Masterji, Mrs.Puri, the Pintos, the Secretary and many such lay the foundation of the story. The storyline is as simple as it could get. In the power hungry and money minded underw ...more

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