Last Man in Tower

2013 Longlist

21st Century Mumbai is a city of new money and soaring real estate, and property kingpin Dharmen Shah has grand plans for its future. His offer to buy and tear down a weathered tower block, making way for luxury apartments, will make each of its residents rich – if all agree to sell. But not everyone wants to leave; many of the residents have lived there for a lifetime, many of them are no longer young. 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…

(From Publisher)

About the Author

Aravind Adiga was born in Madras in 1974. He studied at Columbia and Oxford universities. A former India correspondent Time magazine, his articles have also appeared in publications like the Financial Times, the Independent, and the Sunday Times. He is the author of three critically acclaimed works of fiction: the Man Booker Prize-winning novel The White Tiger (2008), the short-story collection Between the Assassinations (2009) and the novel Last Man in Tower.

Librarian’s Comments

A future prime building site is about to be developed. At present occupied by a Mumbai building society, its tenants are offered generous recompense by the builder and his “left-hand” man. All accept the offer except Yogesh A. Murthy, a former teacher (Masterji), who is consequently persuaded to do so by increasingly doubtful means by members of his own building society.