Last Man In Tower by Aravind Adiga, Allen & Unwin, $32.99.
If you’re looking for cheap thrills in snatched moments, this is not the book for you. Last Man In Tower powerfully rewards the time and attention of the patient reader.
Adiga won the Booker prize for his darkly comic novel The White Tiger and in Last Man In Tower he revisits the desperate but booming streets of metropolitan India.
Property developer Dharmen Shah is choking on the pollution of Mumbai, but is determined to build the biggest and best of the city’s new residential developments.
To do so, he makes an offer to the residents of a tired apartment block. It’s an offer so good, it’s quickly accepted by most of the aspirational residents.
Only one stands firm, Masterji, a retired school teacher mourning the recent death of his beloved wife.
It’s a conflict that will pit neighbour against neighbour and shed light on the power of friendship, corruption, tradition and progress.
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