Last Man in Tower

Aravind Adiga · b. 1974 · India

Why it matters

A Mumbai housing society votes to sell itself to a developer for a fortune, all but one elderly retired teacher who refuses to budge. Adiga turns a single holdout into a portrait of how money curdles a whole community's decency.

At a glance

A large ensemble cast and shifting points of view track a slow-building moral unraveling.