Last Man in Tower by Aravind Adiga (Knopf)

Aravind Adiga, author of the Booker Prize winning novel, White Tiger (and reviewed by Janet Brown in 2008) third book, Last Man in Tower, was published in 2011. It tells the story of a real estate developer who has his eyes on buying out Vishram Society, an apartment complex which consists of Tower A and Tower B. The buildings are located in the city of Mumbai, in India. 

If you were to ask about Vishram Society, “you will be told it is pucca - absolutely, unimpeachably pucca. It is important for the reader to know because “something is not quite pucca about the neighborhood - the toenail of Santa Cruz called Vakola”. You will infer from the context of the passage that pucca means something solid or permanent. 

Tower B is the newer and younger of the two buildings. It is a seven-story building that was built in the seventies. It houses many young executives who work in the financial district which is located nearby. It is the more desirable building of the two to buy or rent. 

Tower A is what most people think when people talk about Vishram Society. It is a six-story building which was founded in 1959. Many of the residents of Tower A have been living in the same building for thirty years or more. 

Real estate developer Dharmen Shah has made a very generous offer to the residents of Vishram Society, both Tower A and Tower B. Most of the people living there had never seen or held the amount that the wealthy builder is offering. He believes that all the residents will agree to the offer and will move out as soon as possible so he can build his latest and best luxury apartment complex which he has already named Shanghai. 

Shah had the Secretary of Vishram Society post his offer on the complex’s notice board. There was only one stipulation written at the very bottom - “The last date for the acceptance of the offer is the day after Gandhi Jayanti: 3 October. (Non-negotiable.) The offer will not be extended one minute beyond this date”. All residents must agree to the offer. If only one person refuses, then the offer will be withdrawn.

It is a dream-come true for most of the residents, but one man, Yogesh A. Murthy, a 61-year-old retired teacher, known to all as Masterji, is not interested in moving. The apartment is a reminder of the life he shared with his recently deceased wife. The rooms are also full of memories of not only his his daughter as well, who met a tragic end when she was pushed out of the train when she was on her way to school. 

As the deadline approaches, the residents' true colors begin to show. Friends become enemies, rumors are spread, and threats are made. However, Masteri does not budge from his refusal to accept the offer. 

In short, Adiga’s story is how greed and yearning can corrupt even the best of people. When the builder’s left-hand man, the person that does the dirty jobs fails to change Masterji’s mind, the builder relies on the residents’ greed to do what must be done? If you lived in a similar complex, how far would you be willing to get what you want? ~Ernie Hoyt