Last Man in Tower by Aravind Adiga

I had been having a hard time finding a really good book to dive into, then I found two--the previously reviewed Art of Fielding and now Last Man in Tower.

Last Man in Tower is basically the story of human nature--both good and bad. Vishram Society Tower A is an apartment building in Mumbai that has seen better days. But to its long-time tenants, it's home and they are a sort of family. Then real estate developer Darmen Shah decides he wants to construct a luxury building on the site and offers the tenants attractive buyouts. The tenants start making big plans for their newfound fortunes--but not everyone wants to leave. And soon neighbors are turning against neighbors.

Adiga is a beautiful writer. You get a real sense of life in Mumbai, where wealth and extreme poverty live side by side. And his characters are well drawn, particularly retired schoolteacher Masterji (who doesn't want to leave the site of so many fond memories of his now-gone family) and Shah (who rose from nothing and is determined to build on the site, no matter the cost).

Adiga won the Man Booker prize for his earlier novel, The White Tiger--which I can't wait to read.