A town portrait through linked stories
Set between the assassinations of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, the book reveals Kittur through many separate lives. The town, not one hero, is the subject.
Between the assassinations
4 ideas
Caste, class, and corruption in daily life
Vignettes of vendors, students, and laborers expose India's social fault lines. Ordinary characters carry the critique.
The city as protagonist
The book is organized like a guidebook to Kittur, with place structuring the narrative. Geography supplies the frame.
Post-independence promise curdles
Adiga shows ordinary Indians ground down by inequality and graft. The nation's founding hopes appear betrayed in daily life.