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alexandre_rl's review against another edition
3.0
Publié à la hâte peu après "Le Tigre blanc", lauréat du prix Booker en 2008, ce recueil de nouvelles d'Aravind Adiga a quelques relents d'opportunisme commercial de la part des éditeurs. Je me suis dit que j'allais quand même lui donner sa chance, mais je suis forcé d'admettre que mes premières impressions se sont confirmées pendant la lecture: il s'agit bel et bien d'une oeuvre assez mineure, sortie des tiroirs de l'écrivain pour battre le fer pendant qu'il était chaud.
La structure est tout de même intéressante; Kittur, ville fictive de l'Inde du Sud, nous est présentée comme dans une brochure de voyage. Chaque attraction fait l'objet d'une brève description idyllique destinée à séduire les touristes, puis on bascule dans l'envers du décor en suivant les déboires d'une série de personnages misérables victimes de la corruption, de la pauvreté et des règles sociales impitoyables d'une Inde que l'auteur présente comme gangrenée.
Certaines nouvelles sont accrocheuses. mais la plupart tombent à plat. Adiga a beaucoup de difficulté à terminer un texte de façon percutante. La plupart des histoires laissent le lecteur sur sa faim et on ferme le livre en regrettant que l'ensemble ne soit pas un peu mieux ficelé et un peu plus abouti.
La structure est tout de même intéressante; Kittur, ville fictive de l'Inde du Sud, nous est présentée comme dans une brochure de voyage. Chaque attraction fait l'objet d'une brève description idyllique destinée à séduire les touristes, puis on bascule dans l'envers du décor en suivant les déboires d'une série de personnages misérables victimes de la corruption, de la pauvreté et des règles sociales impitoyables d'une Inde que l'auteur présente comme gangrenée.
Certaines nouvelles sont accrocheuses. mais la plupart tombent à plat. Adiga a beaucoup de difficulté à terminer un texte de façon percutante. La plupart des histoires laissent le lecteur sur sa faim et on ferme le livre en regrettant que l'ensemble ne soit pas un peu mieux ficelé et un peu plus abouti.
canaanmerchant's review against another edition
3.0
I may be an idiot but I'm pretty sure nothing on the book cover mentioned this being a collection of short stories. I was a little confused at first at just how characters Adjga planned on introducing but once I realized what was up it was easy to go with the flow. Most of the stories are good with no outright stinkers though the pessimistic tone of each one became a little grating overall. I'm glad I read this after the white tiger when I had seen what Adiga was capable of.
somanybookstoread's review against another edition
4.0
interesting strategy (series of short stories that are set in one place) and great writing. Gave me a good look at the complex tapestry of what is India. But lacked some sort of overarching point/connection. 3.5 stars.
aparecium_docx's review against another edition
medium-paced
2.5
Some of the short stories were memorable while the others were slightly difficult to follow.
biblioberry's review against another edition
sigh this was fun at first but it just. got boring?? dnf @ 160 pages
gingerliss's review against another edition
3.0
I picked this book up in a bargain sale, I think it was 3dollars. I liked the book, but the word like is as far as I could go. I didn't realise it was a set of short stories until I started reading it and in between reading read a few reviews of it on Goodreads. I'm not a big fan of short stories. I mean I like them but as I said before that's as far as it goes. So this book wasn't as gripping for me as other books. The stories were good and the writing style was very good. The book as a whole brought over a very clear picture about life in India. A LOT of poverty. I am very interested in reading Aravind Adiga's novel though, White Tiger, for one I will probably enjoy his novel more, as I tend to enjoy novels over short stories. I liked the way the stories were subtly connected and I liked the way the stories were all similar but also very different. The thing with short stories is it's more difficult to feel connected to a character. which never happened throughout this book, following that I never was completely touched by a story. I do feel I have learnt quite a lot about India while reading this book, but it would have also been useful to have more knowledge about India before I read the book, as I didn't understand some terms until I was more than halfway through. I definitely see that Aravind Adiga is a talented author though and I look forward to trying out The White Tiger. I'm not sure I would recommend this book to anyone, maybe people who have been to India and experienced it or people who know more about it than I do. And furthermore to people who enjoy short stories more than I do.
molekkasa's review against another edition
3.0
I really like 'The White Tiger'. It was unexpected and then became one of my favourite reads of 2013. So I was eager to start this from Aravind Adiga.
This is a collection of short stories from different characters in the town of Kittur. Different people from different backgrounds - class, caste, religion, wealth and more. There were a few stories that captured me, the furniture delivery guy; the girl with a drug addict dad; the two brothers who came from a small town and one got bigger than the other; the teacher who only wanted the best from his students; the spinster who works as a babysitter.
The stories were enjoyable but I didn't feel satisfied after putting the book down. Adiga made nice glimpses of people in Kittur but there were something missing and I'm not sure what it is. Though this was a slight disappointment for me I'm not giving up on Adiga's work just yet.
This is a collection of short stories from different characters in the town of Kittur. Different people from different backgrounds - class, caste, religion, wealth and more. There were a few stories that captured me, the furniture delivery guy; the girl with a drug addict dad; the two brothers who came from a small town and one got bigger than the other; the teacher who only wanted the best from his students; the spinster who works as a babysitter.
The stories were enjoyable but I didn't feel satisfied after putting the book down. Adiga made nice glimpses of people in Kittur but there were something missing and I'm not sure what it is. Though this was a slight disappointment for me I'm not giving up on Adiga's work just yet.
tonytharakan's review against another edition
4.0
Aravind Adiga brings to life a fictional town in south India with this 2008 collection of short stories about the residents of Kittur on the country's southwestern coast. Set between the assassinations of Indira Gandhi in 1984 and Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, this follow-up to Adiga's Booker-winning 'White Tiger' contains vignettes and memorable characters from different strata of society.
mattycakesbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Kinda like the White Tiger if the White Tiger was broken up into a bunch of short stories and had none of them had the same catharsis at the end. It was really just a bunch of uniformly depressing stories about this small town. And while I appreciate the message he was trying to send, there was just too little variety in tone between the stories for me to really get into it. Each new chapter was basically, "Oh, so who's life dreams are going to be crushed THIS time?"