內容簡介
內容簡介 【2008年曼布克獎】英語文壇最高榮耀曼布克獎得獎作他是僕役、哲學家、企業家、殺人兇手、總理的企業家精神導師他是「白老虎」巴蘭‧哈外是個說故事高手，在一盞華麗水晶燈下，他花了七個晚上對中國總理溫家寶講述自己的人生故事……巴蘭出生在印度中心的小村莊，雖然來自最低種姓人家，卻是全村最聰明的孩子；家人為了生計卻讓他退學去茶館工作。他在敲木炭和擦桌子時幻想著逃跑，希望擺脫黑暗、貧窮、沒有明天的農村生活。直到一個有錢地主雇他為司機，巴蘭的機會來了。他在本田汽車的方向盤後面第一次看到德里，看見跟他一樣身分低下的僕人與腰纏萬貫的主人在大都市裡積極鑽營權力、財富與酒色。在蟑螂、水牛、客服中心、妓女、三千六百萬零四個神、貧民窟和購物中心之間，巴蘭的人生教育就此展開。他想要當一個忠僕，卻又壓抑不了過好生活的慾望；他學到了新印度最重要的新道德，開始策劃老虎該如何掙脫牢籠：每一個成功人士在往上爬的路上，總要流一點血吧？故事詼諧、緊湊，敘事獨特，扣人心弦。沒有莎麗、瑜伽、塔不拉鼓，卻有對經濟新興國印度精確露骨的觀察。從黑暗的農村生活到光明的企業成功，巴蘭的旅程完全沒有道德，精采得肆無忌憚，令人難忘且愛不釋手。本書介出自商周出版《白老虎》Here's a strange fact: murder a man, and you feel responsible for his life - possessive, even. You know more about him than his father and mother; they knew his foetus, but you know his corpse.Meet Balram Halwai, the 'White Tiger': servant, philosopher, entrepreneur... murderer. Balram was born in a backwater village on the River Ganges, the son of a rickshaw-puller. He works in a teashop, crushing coal and wiping tables, but nurses a dream of escape. When he learns that a rich village landlord needs a chauffeur, he takes his opportunity, and is soon on his way to Delhi at the wheel of a Honda. Amid cockroaches, call-centres, thirty-six-million gods, slums, shopping malls, and crippling traffic jams, Balram comes to see how the Tiger might slip the bars of his cage."
