Entitlement, Rumaan Alam
Entitlement, at its heart, is a tale of desire. The heroine, Brooke, has just gotten a glimpse into the kinds of circles where unimaginable amounts of money circulate freely. And though she has never been in need, she realises she is in want.
We are dropped immediately into the New York setting, which is the perfect backdrop for this chaotic book. A city where nothing seems out of reach but everything, to a certain extent, is. Where there will always be someone who is and has more. Within the same chapter that Brooke worries about the ‘subway pricker,’ she interacts with one of the richest men on earth. The meditations that come about as a result of simply existing in the city are often the most visceral sections of the book, with an uncanny ‘slice of life’ appeal.
Similarly, the narrative is at its best when Brooke is somehow both unaware and suggestive of her own privilege. She has unlocked a certain level in life, has the background and education and daily comfort to show for it, but there is more to be achieved - and she is free to use what in another life have may have served as a disadvantage, her gender and race, to her advantage.
While at first we are on Brooke’s side -yes, why shouldn’t she get a fragment of this billionaire’s fortune?, the tides turn very quickly when she starts behaving in increasingly unjustifiable ways. We rapidly start to dislike her for what we always knew she would be: entitled. The author, after all, had warned us from the very start.
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