Between the Assassinations

This series of short stories gives a gripping and unique look into life in modern India. The characters come at us from all parts of the society, and each one has an incredible story. Although these are short stories, they tie together smoothly and complete each other in their own way. Anyone who enjoys reading about India should not miss this book.

In the vein of Aravind Adiga's Booker Prize-winning "White Tiger," "Between the Assassinations" provides the reader with a panoramic view of India in transformation between the assassinations of Indira Ghandi in the early 1980s and Rajiv Ghandi, her son, less than 10 years later. The novel is set in Kittur, a town big enough to include slums and mansions, private schools and factories, but small enough for each character's story to intersect with the others. The dioramas unfold as the narrator conducts a proposed 7-day tour of Kittur for the reader, from the railway station to the pornographic Angel Talkies theater, the Bunder criminal district to the Salt Market, with stops for us to learn some of the history and meet the neighborhood inhabitants. "Between the Assassinations" examines the balance of power in Indian: The factory owner who knows the work he demands ultimately blinds his employees, but who also knows they will survive by doing the same work elsewhere if he doesn't demand it, and who in turn is crippled by the bribes demanded by Kittur officials to keep the factory open; the respected servant who sneers at the servants he sees as beneath him and dares think his Christian employer might view him as equal; the beggar who prides himself on his Muslim unwillingness to participate in "hanky panky" but will commit treason for an iota of respect; the father who supports his family in any way possible but demands that his young daughter procure the drugs he needs to face his life; the liberal minds who manage to believe simultaneously in equality and that caste will always out. This book was actually written before "White Tiger" but, as so often happens, did not find a publisher and an audience until after the release of the prize-winning former. Nevertheless, it is at least as powerful and revealing, if not more so. Although its vision is sometimes a bleak one, it's a fascinating behind the scenes look at the challenges faced by an ancient nation poised to become a world player in the global economy. These stories will stay with you and inform your view of India for a long time.

Aravind Adiga's previous release, WHITE TIGER, certainly raised the bar for his follow-up attempt. Despite the nitpicks I have with the second novel, BETWEEN ASSASSINATIONS, I think Adiga did admirably well. Rather than a linear novel, BETWEEN ASSASSINATIONS is a anthology of short stories bound by the commonality of being set in the same fictional town: Kittur. This format allows Adiga then to speak on the place, India and Kittur and the people who reside there, through a collage of stories. Each story depicts a moment in the life of a resident. Often the stories aren't particularly eventful and while not an overly remarkable event to the character "living" in the story, often is very revealing to the reader. Often, the most important events and decisions pass by without registering. And in this understated way, these stories will stay with the reader long after the book is shut. My only complaint is that there was no force to tie the stories together (aside from the gentle but insistent cynicism threaded throughout). I suppose I was hoping for an Indian version of WINESBURG, OHIO with an unobtrusive focus like George Willard. Regardless, the complaint is small when considering the overall quality of this work. If you have not, pick up BETWEEN ASSASSINATIONS. Don't be fooled, because that beautiful yellow cover is an invitation to the underbelly of India.

BETWEEN THE ASSASSINATIONS is a riveting book. The time frame for the stories is between the years 1984 and 1991 which is when Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv were killed. This is a group of fourteen short stories which all take place in a fictional city called Kittur. Each story begins with a brief description of the area where the people live and work. The characters in the stories are the poor of India and their lives are painful to hear. Some accept that their lives will never be any better and others try hard to get out of the rut of poverty and hunger, but few make it. Picture Chenayya, a young man who delivers furniture for a living. His bike has an attached cart which holds his heavy load. There's always a lot of traffic. Car drivers get annoyed at the slow movement of his vehicle. They honk and swear at him. It's a slow process and he's exhausted by peddling up hills. When he arrives at his delivery point, he's greeted by the buyers with disdain and rudeness. He delivers the goods and sometimes, he even gets a tip, but that is taken from him by his boss! Chenayya's income is barely enough to feed him and he's always hungry. The rich see themselves as far above the workers because the caste system dictates your job and your worth as a person. He can't even afford a home and lives in an alley near his place of work. Even in the public alley, he must give some money to the brutes who terrorize the poor workers who have spread their blankets on the pavement. The main characters in these stories, were all very poor. The exception is a well born and educated man who became a communist. His wealthy family disowned him and he ended up a slave to his boss and the system.

I'll be the fool that treads where the critic-angels may fear to go: with Aravind Adiga's White Tiger debut, and his Between the Assassinations encore, we are being invited to witness the birth of a literary superstar. My argument is a brief one: White Tiger (which I loved) won the 2008 Man Booker Prize; Between the Assassinations is deeper, richer, even better. What makes Between the Assassinations superior literature as well as an absorbingly pleasurable (superior and pleasurable are NOT necessarily synonymous!) read? Several qualities, starting with Adiga's ability to describe his homeland of India with the eye of an eagle, and the heart of a lover. In vivid, accessible, witty, fast-moving prose, the author describes life in an Indian city with a vision that is clear, but not jaundiced, realistic but not morose. Between the Assassinations is a collection of fourteen stories that describe one week in the life of Kittur, a city with enough diversity of culture, language, and religion to give Adiga an ample backdrop for stories about inter-faith tension, caste, corruption, gentility, quiet heroism, lost love, environmental devastation, the struggle (and, at times, the smoldering rage) of the abysmally poor, and spectacular irony. The stories are strung like glittering stones on a necklace: each tale distinct, the strong thread of human life in Kittur connecting all. One story involves a Muslim child, ejected from his rural family to fend for himself during the dry season. On his arrival in Kittur, looking for employment, he states "I'm a Muslim, sir, we don't do hanky-panky." How does this creed play out in the face of sleeping on the street and flirting with outright starvation? The ending surprised me. Another story involves a banker in a charming and childless marriage who repeatedly turns down promotions to Bombay in order to, in part, take pleasure in a secret spot in Kittur's last remaining forest, Bajpe. The protagonist, Giridhar Rao's house is on the edge of Bajpe, and Adiga writes that relatives and residents of the neighborhood "were usually up on their terraces or balconies, enjoying the cool breezes that blew from the forest in the evening. Guests and hosts together watched as herons, eagles, and kingfishers flew in and out of the darkening mass of trees, like ideas circulating around an immense brain. The sun, when it plunged behind the forest, burned orange and ocher through the interstices of the foliage, as if peering out of the trees and the observers had the distinct impression that they were being observed in return." A third story involves a bright, rich, but low caste student at St. Alfonso High School detonating a bomb in class. Struggling with the rough draft of his note to the authorities, he writes "I have burst a bomb to end the five-thousand-year-old caste system that still operates in our country". The effects of the bomb are more comical than lethal (the chemistry teacher, struggling with his con