Last Man in Tower

Adiga's rich story is so full of characters that it reminds one of Dickens. But Sam Dastor's use of affected Indian accents in their dialogue is overdone to the point of distracting from the story. The nasally, wheedling tone of the secretary of an apartment building may be more than some listeners can take in long stretches. However, some listeners may consider the characterizations to be playful--indicative of humor intended by the author. Dastor is a capable narrator otherwise and changes tone, pitch, and inflection to help differentiate the novel's many male characters. Overall, this production may please those looking for an inventive reading. M.R. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

July 25, 2011
When Mumbai was still Bombay, the apartment building became the new village, inhabitants growing up and old together, intertwined in one another's rhythms and needs. Tower A of the Vishram Society is one such buildingâboth a character and the setting in this highly allegorical yet riveting novel, Adiga's first since winning the Man Booker Prize for The White Tiger. Here, Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Communists have lived together for decades, finding recent common ground in their suspicions about the new "modern" single girl in 3B. But when a developer offers each resident an astronomical sum to move out so that he might build a luxury condo, greed threatens to destroy the community. But one holdout, the teacher Mr. Masterji, is determined that knowledge and principle will protect him. Though occasionally overwritten ("The hypodermic needle of the outside world had bent at his epidermis and never penetrated"), Adiga is a master of pacing. The momentum builds as Masterji's neighbors become consumed by money, allowing Adiga to show his characters grappling with circumstances, and enduring difficult changes of heart. Adiga takes a harsh look at Mumbai's new wealth, but his characters are more than archetypes. Though the allure of capitalism has won them over, the inhabitants of Tower A are at the mercy of the rich as much as their neighbor, the teacher, is at the mercy of them.