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Last man in tower : a novel  Cover Image Book Book

Last man in tower : a novel / Aravind Adiga.

Adiga, Aravind. (Author).

Summary:

"Ask any Bombaywallah about Vishram Society--Tower A of the Vishram Co-operative Housing Society--and you will be told that it is unimpeachably pucca. Despite its location close to the airport, under the flight path of 747s and bordered by slums, it has been pucca for some fifty years. But Bombay has changed in half a century--not least its name--and the world in which Tower A was first built is giving way to a new city; a Mumbai of development and new money; of wealthy Indians returning with fortunes made abroad. When real estate developer Dharmen Shah offers to buy out the residents of Vishram Society, planning to use the site to build a luxury apartment complex, his offer is more than generous. Initially, though, not everyone wants to leave; many of the residents have lived in Vishram for years, and many of them are no longer young. But none can benefit from the offer unless all agree to sell. As tensions rise among the once civil neighbours, one by one those who oppose the offer give way to the majority, until only one man stands in Shah's way: Masterji, a retired schoolteacher, once the most respected man in the building. Shah is a dangerous man to refuse, but as the demolition deadline looms, Masterji's neighbours--friends who have become enemies, acquaintances turned co-conspirators--may stop at nothing to score their payday. A suspense-filled story of money and power, luxury and deprivation, and a rich tapestry peopled by unforgettable characters, not least of which is Bombay itself, Last Man in Tower opens up the hearts and minds of the inhabitants of a great city--ordinary people pushed to their limits in a place that knows none."--Publisher.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9780307594099
  • Physical Description: 381 p. ; 25 cm.
  • Publisher: [Toronto] : Bond Street Books, 2011.
Subject: Apartment dwellers > Fiction.
Apartment houses > Fiction.
Real estate developers > Fiction.
Social conflict > Fiction.
India > Fiction.
Bombay (India) > Social life and customs > Fiction.
Genre: General.
Social commentary fiction.

Available copies

  • 8 of 9 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
  • 1 of 1 copy available at Vanderhoof Public Library.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 9 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Holdable? Status Due Date
Vanderhoof Public Library AF ADI (Text) 35193000246084 Adult Fiction Volume hold Available -

  • Baker & Taylor
    Refusing to leave his home when a powerful real-estate developer offers to buy out the residents of a crumbling apartment complex near the infamous Dharavi slums, a retired schoolteacher becomes a target of violence by the developer and his own neighbors.
  • Baker & Taylor
    Refusing to leave his home when a powerful real-estate developer offers to buy out the residents of a crumbling apartment complex near the infamous Dharavi slums, a retired schoolteacher becomes a target of violence by the developer and his own neighbors. By the Man Booker Prize-winning author of The White Tiger.
  • Random House, Inc.
    Searing. Explosive. Lyrical. Compassionate. Here is the astonishing new novel by the Man Booker Prize–winning author of The White Tiger, a book that took rage and anger at injustice and turned it into a thrilling murder story. Now, with the same fearlessness and insight, Aravind Adiga broadens his canvas to give us a riveting story of money and power, luxury and deprivation, set in the booming city of Mumbai.

    At the heart of this novel are two equally compelling men, poised for a showdown. Real estate developer Dharmen Shah rose from nothing to create an empire and hopes to seal his legacy with a building named the Shanghai, which promises to be one of the city’s most elite addresses. Larger-than-life Shah is a dangerous man to refuse. But he meets his match in a retired schoolteacher called Masterji. Shah offers Masterji and his neighbors—the residents of Vishram Society’s Tower A, a once respectable, now crumbling apartment building on whose site Shah’s luxury high-rise would be built—a generous buyout. They can’t believe their good fortune. Except, that is, for Masterji, who refuses to abandon the building he has long called home. As the demolition deadline looms, desires mount; neighbors become enemies, and acquaintances turn into conspirators who risk losing their humanity to score their payday.

    Here is a richly told, suspense-fueled story of ordinary people pushed to their limits in a place that knows none: the new India as only Aravind Adiga could explore—and expose—it. Vivid, visceral, told with both humor and poignancy, Last Man in Tower is his most stunning work yet.

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