Review of Recently Read Books

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

A White Tiger is a rare spectacle in the Jungle, and the narrator, Balram Halwai, believes he is a rare and talented man. However, he is narrator that some may find hard to identify with as he blatantly tells the reader that he murdered to get into his position, but in some cases you find yourself rooting for him to break the bonds of traditional Indian life and eveolve as human. Obviously this novel tells the story of how Balram went from a poor man to a rich man, but the most eyeopening observation of this book is how life and modern culture function in contemporary India.


Crum by Lee Maynard

Several reviewers note that Crum maybe the Cather in the Rye of rural America, but I do not see it that way as the narrator of Crum evenutally leaves his home behind, Holden remains with this family in New York. Crum is an actual town in West Virginia across the Tug River from Kentucky where the novel is set. The plot follows narrator through his adolescent life in Crum, and the seasons affect the lives of the characters. Crum is just like any other small West Virginia town where there is nothing to do but get into trouble and Maynard vividly describes the antectis that occured in Crum. The language is definatly rated R, but all teenage boys cuse like sailors and it makes the story more believeable. While I identify with the narrators want to escape Crum and West Virginia, there is something about the state that always calls its native sons and daughters home no matter how long you've been away; it's a hard state to escape.

Notes From Underground by Fyodor Dotoevsky

This work, creditied as one of the first exestential works, consists of ideas and antecdotes from the Underground Man. The work is divided into two parts the first consisting of the rambling philophy of the man and the second consisting of past episodes of the mans life before he went underground. The Underground man contradicts himself in almost every fashion, and his beliefs have made him into a sad and sorry man. In this work Dostoevsky shows that man is an irrational being and incapable of being satisfied. From this work, I can easily see how this style of writing lent itself in Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment.