The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens

I finished The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens and Booker Prize Winner in 1970 a few weeks ago. So my post is a bit overdue. Rubens chronicles the Zweck family, a tight-knit and phenomenally dysfunctional family living in London and struggling with a number of past and present family dramas. Rabbi Abraham Zweck is the patriarch and a British immigrant. The story hop-scotches between his perspective, his unmarried daughter Bella's and his drug addicted son Norman. The three main Zwecks slowly peel back the layers of their stormy family history through their musings and recollections.

Abraham's wife was once the glue that anchored the family together with her love of tradition and her command of guilt and need. In fact, Rubens explores that delicate family balance of need, guilt, love and resentment that has fallen so far out of whack for the Zwecks.

Norman, a linguistic genius from an early age and once great lawyer taxes his father and sister heavily with his drug addiction and the hallucinations it brings. Their decision to admit him to a mental hospital acts as a catalyst for all of them emotionally. They each then need to recall the past wrongs and wrong choices of their lives. Rubens unfolds their family story from different perspectives and keeps her reader off balance by revealing new facts and tainting the stories with the different remembrances.

Yet, through it all, she tells mostly the story of family and the need and dependence that family ties create. Father, son, and daughters all responded to mother's need and in their resentment, formed needs and guilt of their own.

I thought it was a masterfully told family drama.

White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

Earlier this week I finished reading White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, winner of the Man Booker award in 2008. It's a book I enjoyed immensely for the voice of the narrator and the biting social commentary it laid at the feet of the Indian subcontinent.

Munna/Balram/The White Tiger narrates the story of how he went from a small village boy to a driver to a murderer and now successful entrepreneur. His path and his struggles are all artfully narrated as letters to the visiting Chinese leader who will be arriving in India shortly. The sense of place Adiga creates with his descriptions is pretty incredible, and Balram's colloquial voice is enjoyable.

It is hard to rejoice in the picture he paints of corrupt government, the ugly reality of the monied class, and his own struggles with family obligation. These are all a dark undertone to Balram's perky letters. But, overall it lends a great balance to the book. Adiga walks a fine line with his writing, but the final result is a cutting social commentary with a great satirical feel.

I enjoyed reading White Tiger and found it a quick, easy read. I'll be interested to see what else comes from Mr. Adiga.

Update

Last night I finished White Tiger which was the 2008 Booker winner. I've got to get my self up to writing the review...but it's coming.

I also started the very first Newberry award winner The Story of Mankind.