2008 BOOKER PRIZE

The White Tiger, the debut novel of Indian writer Aravind Adiga, is this year's winner of the Man Booker Prize for fiction. I thought it interesting that Adiga, who is thirty-three years old, is the fourth debut novelist to win the award in the Booker's forty year history. As a reader, I have found that many of the best novels are the work of first-time writers. Perhaps this is due to the fact that it has become increasingly difficult for unknown novelists to get their work published, and that therefore the titles that do see the light of day are those with merit. A few of my favorite debuts, released within the past few years, include Frazier's Cold Mountain, Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale, Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, and most recently The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (Wroblewski) and The Good Thief (Tinti).

The three other debut novelists to have won the Booker Prize are Keri Hulme for her novel The Bone People in 1985, DBC Pierre in 2003 for his novel Vernon God Little and Arundhati Roy in 1997 for The God of Small Things. I have yet to read one of these, but will be taking a closer look now that I know they were newbies:)

I do have a copy of The White Tiger on my desk - I placed it on hold when the short list came out - and hope to read it this weekend. According to the Booker site, this novel has been described as a "compelling, angry and darkly humorous novel about a man's journey from Indian village life to entrepreneurial success...an unadorned portrait of India seen from the bottom of the heap (multiple review sources)."

I can't wait to dive in!