First-time novelist wins Booker

[Camy]

First-time novelist wins Booker

Aravind Adiga has won this year's Man Booker Prize with his debut novel The White Tiger.

The 33-year-old Indian-born writer was also the youngest author on the shortlist.

He beat favourite Sebastian Barry to take the ?50,000 prize. The other contenders were Amitav Ghosh, Steve Toltz, Linda Grant and Philip Hensher.

Chairman of the judges, former politician Michael Portillo, said: "In many ways it was the perfect novel."

The White Tiger, a tale of two Indias, tells the story of Balram, the son of a rickshaw puller in the heartlands, one of the "faceless" poor left behind by the country's recent economic boom.

It charts his journey from working in a teashop to entrepreneurial success.

Announcing the winner at a ceremony in London, Mr Portillo said: "My criteria were 'Does it knock my socks off?' and this one did ... the others impressed me ... this one knocked my socks off."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7670417.stm

There's hope for us all! ;)

[Cole Parker]

Has anyone here read it?

C