Between the Assassinations by Aravind Adiga
Assassinations by Adiga was an excellent book of short stories detailing life in the fictional town of Kittur, India. Each chapter focuses on a different set of characters with a different set of religion, caste, values, status, and rules which they must live by - be it the suffering schoolteacher, the mosquito sprayer for the rich, or the childless couple. While it took me awhile to finish this book, and it's not that long, I often found myself needing to put it down and think about the chapter I had just read. Adiga writes with an insiders view of the world around him and while at times that world is disheartening, it is also funny and awkward. Assassinations is really a story about people and the good and bad things they can do to each other. I will admit that most of the stories end on a sad note, it didn't stop me from finishing the book (and I'm not often a fan of a sad story). I felt as if the title referred to the moments of pause in our lives - the moments when we can take a breath and examine the world around us from an outsiders point of view. What are the interesting society constructs that hold the system together and is that system really what we want it to be? What really tied the book together is the town of Kittur itself. Adiga designed Kittur to feel like a living breathing town. Parts of the book reminded me of my previous home of Philadelphia with each neighborhood having it's own problems and flavor. Overall, I think this was an excellent book and worth reading if you want to learning something about a day in the life of someone in another culture and something about yourself. I would also highly recommend Adiga's previous work 'The White Tiger', an excellent story that speaks for itself.
