Last Man in Tower (Hardcover)

Last Man in Tower Book Description

About the Book :

Last Man In Tower is a novel by Aravind Adiga. The novel deals with a feudalistic issue (not set up in a rural backdrop) wherein a real estate businessman tries to usurp an old building, Vishram Society, in Mumbai. However, the residents of the building were not ready to give in to the lucrative offer made by Dharmen Shah, who had plans to erect a luxurious apartment after demolishing the old structure.

The resolute decision of the residents of Vishram Society gradually starts crumbling like the dilapidated building. People succumbed to the offer of Dharmen Shah and only one man was left alone: Masterji, a retired school teacher. Building’s other residents, who by now have turned the henchmen of Shah, tried to persuade Masterji to accept the offer.

The novel in its flawless progress points out the binary distinction of the society – rich class & poor class, luxury & deprivation, money & power. The story presents stunning colours of the society and people who dwell in it. Strong characterization is the forte of this novel, wherein Bombay itself plays a crucial character.

Dharmen Shah is a magnificent creation.... This is a richly-evoked, Dickensian world that explores the chasm between rich and poor, the venal and the incorruptible, and the narrative is studded with delightful epiphanies... Adiga succeeds in giving a voice and a sense of humour to the powerless. ‘Jokes are the only weapons we have’, laments one character. And, happily, this novel is full of them. All human life – and longing – is here. Marvellous stuff.’ Sebastian Shakespeare in the Tatler

About the Author :

Indian journalist and author Aravind Adiga was born on October 23, 1974. His first novel, The White Tiger, was a huge commercial and critical success (more than 200,000 copies were sold in India) as it won the 2008 Man Booker Prize. Adiga, who hails from Chennai, was born in a distinguished family; his grandfather, Late K. Suryanarayana Adiga, was a former chairman of Karnataka Bank. Aravind studied at Canara High School and St. Aloysius High School in Mangalore; then moved to Australia with his family. In the early years of his career, Adiga worked as financial journalist and published many articles in the Financial Times and Money. Later on he worked with TIME and held the position of South Asia correspondent for three years.

Reviews :

‘A book of Victorian amplitude, and, like the great 19th-century novels, very hard to summarise... Adiga is too good a novelist not to allow us to see that [Masterji] is also conceited...and inflexibly self-righteous... Adiga is absolutely fair in his treatment of all his characters... Adiga shows with great skill how in extreme situations decent people may be brought to behave badly...This is a very fine novel, wonderfully rich in detail and the evocation of everyday life... It has a range, ambition and humanity which one rarely finds in contemporary British or US fiction: further evidence that the true successors of the European novelists of the 19th century are now to be found in the Indian sub-continent and the Arab world.’ Allan Massie in the Scotsman

‘Adiga’s always engaging, ultimately disturbing and tragic novel... Day by day, the saga unfolds, told in limpid, witty and addictive style... Each of [the characters] is memorably and wittily drawn... Adiga is like Dickens or any novelist who sees things politicians, big businessmen and others cannot see and do not want us to see... Masterji [is] the perfect hero for these unheroic times’ Alan Taylor in the Herald

‘The end is both savage, sordid and ever so sad. However, LMIT, in its dizzying portrait of Mumbai, contains plenty of comedy and dark humour’ Sunday Telegraph

‘[Adiga’s] writing vibrates with the energy of the city... at its most evocative and affectionate when describing the garbage on which Mumbai is built and the pollution it generates... An ironic saga that's morally and ethically engaged, without being judgmental about characters as they do whatever it takes to survive the chaos of Maximum City.’ The Australian

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