Between the Assassinations

Between the Assassinations
	1st edition (India)
Author	Aravind Adiga
Country	India
Language	English
Genre	novel
Publisher	Picador (in India)
Publication date	1 November 2008
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	300
ISBN	978-0-330-45054-6
Followed by	The White Tiger

Between the Assassinations is the second book published by Aravind Adiga though it was written before his first book The White Tiger. The title refers to the period between the assassinations of Indira Gandhi in 1984 and her son, Rajiv Gandhi, in 1991. Indira Gandhi was the serving Prime Minister of India when she was assassinated; Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister in 1984, and left office following his party's defeat in the 1989 general election.

Between the Assassinations is a collection of short stories. It was published by Picador in India in 2008, and in Britain and the United States in 2009. While it reveals the beauty of the rural, coastal south where it is set, its subject is the pathos, injustices and ironies of Indian life.

The book had an initial print run of 16,000 copies, which is on the higher side for fiction in India.

Content

The stories take place in the fictitious town of Kittur in Southwest India. It was originally modeled on Adiga's hometown of Mangalore, but was substantially changed to make room for more diverse plots and characters. The stories revolve around different classes, castes and religions in India. In each story, another set of characters is introduced, but places and names appear again in other stories.

Even though it was published after The White Tiger, Between the Assassinations was started—and most likely finished—before The White Tiger and thus shows Adiga's ideas in a raw and unpolished form. The servant who is tempted to run away with his master's money, the village hick sent to town, Nepali guards and a hit-and-run accident by a rich man, which is subsequently covered up by corrupt policemen, all appear in Between the Assassinations as well as in The White Tiger. The text also covers up a lot of scene which is similar to his previous novel The White Tiger.

References

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