No matter whose eyes we see the city through, the picture is not a pretty one. Corruption is rampant and poverty is a child's normal inheritance, even the poorest having to pay off someone for the privilege of sleeping in a back alley. Adiga's characters aren't always the nicest of people, but they're what their world made them and the connection between who they are and the conditions that shaped them is drawn accurately without being sensationalized. Although it's is beginning to feel like every book set in India released in North America is mainly concerned with recounting social ills that tarnish the economic miracle image that is trumpeted in the press, Adiga's study of life in Kittur only does so indirectly; themes like religious violence and corruption aren't the focus, but simply part and parcel of the lives his characters live.
Like Joyce and Anderson before him, Adiga has concentrated his energies on the people of his focus city. By giving us glimpses into their lives, opening their hearts and minds to us so that we the city through their eyes, we are given a multi-dimensional view of life in Kittur. Offering a kaleidoscopic view of the city, each chapter presents a different perspective. As a result, this is a remarkably well developed picture of life in a specific city and a number of the people who live in it. Although we may mark history with events like the assassinations of major figures in society, individual stories are continually being played out, and taken together they form the story of the place where they live.
Article comments
1 - Bryan
If you're interested in place-based fiction like this, Donald Ray Pollock's short story collection Knockemstiff is a really great look at poor rural Americans. Also, Haruki Murakami's After the Quake sets five stories in the aftermath of the Kobe earthquake in Japan, showing characters lives without being directly about the disaster itself.
2 - slime
I never read books a lot. I haven't read adiga.
I have lived around Kittur , in Belgaum, played around. Kittur is historic to extent of regional powerhouse. for tourists, it wont make a great tourist spot. I would advise to mix Kittur with Amboli, secenic water falls at hilltop and wind sand beaches of Sawantwadi. This would be a weeks trip with focus on sindhudurg.