This December it will be 20 years since I went to India. The White Tiger brought back many memories from then.

In the book Aravind Adiga tells us the truth about India. About how poverty and ignorance crush most of the poor and corruption ensures most of the rich remain that way. The protagonist – The White Tiger – pulls off a rare trick: he escapes his position as a servant and becomes a master.

There’s nothing that feels fictional about this book. The superstitious beliefs, the mannerisms, the way characters talk and so on…all feel very familiar to me. Yet there is something more that marks this book out as special: it’s very angry but breathtakingly articulate. The sarcasm and wit is dazzling. At other times the book is rather touching and even tragic. It’s quite a journey.

The Guardian interviewed Adiga when The White Tiger won The Booker Prize in 2008.

(31st in 2012)