My best friend Ronald once tipped me that any book from the shortlist of the man Booker prize is a masterpiece and can be bought blind. I would like to call it Ronalds law, and until now it worked well for me. Flying to Istanbul I therefor bought ‘the white tiger’ from Arvind Adiga, allthough I never heard from him, because the cover said ‘Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2008.
Again, a masterpiece. One big letter from ‘an entrepeneur’ to the chinese premier Wen JiaBao. I would like to mention it for one reason: it illustrates brilliantly the concept of ambiguity. The main character is a poor man. He hasn’t even got a name. You sympasize with him. However Adiga cleverly plays with the archetype of the ‘poor and honest’. This book is definitively not a new Uncle Tom. As a reader you are drawn into his life, but that is not exactly made easy. You sort of experience the ambiguity of motives and intent.
The book gives you some insight in the Indian world, but in a part of it that is not only strange to us, but strange to the writer as well as shown in the video from the Booker site.
Maybe this book should be added to a list of marketers reading list, since I notice that often in marketing the concept of ambiguity is not very developted: the one and clear motive is more easy to understand and to act upon, whereas in reality often our motives are a mix of different, often even conflicting motives.
Tags: ambiguity, art & literature, india