Posts by Lynda Perez

Welcome to week three of the October 2010’s Readers Den. Here are some discussion questions:

Joe Sacco is a Maltese-American cartoonist and writer. He has written several comic books and comic book collections. The author was born in Malta in 1960. When he was one, his family left Malta and moved to Australia. In 1972, Sacco and his family immigrated to the United States and settled in Los Angeles, California. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Oregon in 1981 and shortly after, he began working as a journalist. Unsatisfied with a career in journalism, two years later, the author moved to Malta to focus on his cartooning.

Welcome to the October 2010 online book discussion.

This month we will be discussing Palestine, by Joe Sacco. Feel free to participate and make comments.

Thank you participating in this month’s online book discussion. I hope you enjoyed The White Tiger as much as I did. If you didn’t have a chance to read the book and participate, please feel free to post your thoughts at a later time. The discussion will remain online in the Reader’s Den and hopefully, others will read the book and join in, as well.

In his novel, Adiga highlights the dichotomy between the rich and the poor. He discusses the poorer Indian peoples' subservient relationship with their rich masters and their reluctance to rebel against the establishment because of ingrained and learned beliefs passed down from generation to generation. The rooster coop reflects the desperate existence of the poor in India and the perpetual power of the rich to manipulate the system to suit their needs. "Hundreds of pale hens and brightly colored roosters, stuffed tightly into wire-mesh cages, packed as tightly as worms in a belly, pecking each other, jostling for breathing space; the whole cage giving off a horrible stench--the 

Early on in the novel, we learn that Balram is a successful businessman in Bangalore and an extremely complex character. In his first letter to the Chinese premier, he writes "my country is the kind where it pays to play it both ways: the Indian entrepreneur has to be straight and crooked, mocking and believing, sly and sincere, at the same time." What are your thoughts about Balram? Is he a psychopath?

Hopefully, you were able to get yourself a copy of The White Tiger and are enjoying the novel as much as I did. Here are a few questions to think about:

Why is Balram addressing his letters to the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabo? What is his intention in writing these letters?

In the first chapter, Balram describes himself as "a thinking man" and "a man of action." Do you agree or disagree? What examples do we see that he is both?

Welcome to the Reader's Den! This month's online book discussion will be The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga. Feel free to participate and make comments.