The White Tiger

After reading putrid novels by Ian McEwan and J.M. Coetzee, both of whom have been honored with the Booker Prize, it should not have been a surprise that this novel, the 2008 prize winner, is a disaster. It is less challenging and less subtle than many comic books. Stylistically, it is inert. There is plenty to learn about modern India in its pages, but it is hardly literature. Or is the Booker Prize for children's books?