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Slumdog Millionaire

A Novel

By Vikas Swarup

(173)

| Others | 9781439136652

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Book Description

Vikas Swarup's spectacular debut novel opens in a jail cell in Mumbai, India, where Ram Mohammad Thomas is being held after correctly answering all twelve questions on India's biggest quiz show, Who Will Win a Billion? It is hard to believe that a poor orphan who has never read a newspaper orContinue

Vikas Swarup's spectacular debut novel opens in a jail cell in Mumbai, India, where Ram Mohammad Thomas is being held after correctly answering all twelve questions on India's biggest quiz show, Who Will Win a Billion? It is hard to believe that a poor orphan who has never read a newspaper or gone to school could win such a contest. But through a series of exhilarating tales Ram explains to his lawyer how episodes in his life gave him the answer to each question.

Ram takes us on an amazing review of his own history -- from the day he was found as a baby in the clothes donation box of a Delhi church to his employment by a faded Bollywood star to his adventure with a security-crazed Australian army colonel to his career as an overly creative tour guide at the Taj Mahal.

Swarup's Q & A is a beguiling blend of high comedy, drama, and romance that reveals how we know what we know -- not just about trivia, but about life itself. Cutting across humanity in all its squalor and glory, Vikas Swarup presents a kaleidoscopic vision of the struggle between good and evil -- and what happens when one boy has no other choice in life but to survive.

Critics

  • Book review: Vikas Swarup's *Slumdog Millionaire*

    Slumdog Millionaire Vikas Swarup Scribner Paperback 336 pages November 2008 Originally published as q & a, Vikas Swarup’s debut novel is the story of Ram Mohammed Thomas, a 19-year-old orphan from the slums of Bombay. When the novel opens, he is a) a ... (read full critics)

    curledup published on Tue, 7 Sep 2010

13 Reviews

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  • 1 person find this helpful

    A brilliant book. Holds together much better than the film, and the characters are more believable. Stylishly written, and with the changes in time it is challenging and fun.

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    adreamine said on Mar 21, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • 1 person find this helpful

    Who Will Win A Billion?

    From my Amazon review

    The book is different from the film. The idea is the same, some characters also but quiz questions, the life story and conditions of the upbringing Ram Mohammad Thomas are different.

    The book is written as stand alone chapters in which Ram tells his lawyer the story of the p ... (continue)

    From my Amazon review

    The book is different from the film. The idea is the same, some characters also but quiz questions, the life story and conditions of the upbringing Ram Mohammad Thomas are different.

    The book is written as stand alone chapters in which Ram tells his lawyer the story of the part of his life that has given him the answer to the question in the quiz show.
    Little by little you are fed information and can piece his life story together.
    Only at the last question do we learn the real reason of his going onto W3B ( not the reason of the film !)
    As you learn more of this kind-hearted character, his tribulations and what he has done during his life you feel that he is worthy of winning all that money.
    I actually preferred Ram as he was depicted in the book than in the film.

    The story is of course written in simple language as it is narrated by Ram, who has had very little education.
    I found Q& A an easy, captivating read and finished it in one day, well written as you "live" each chapter through the eyes of the character.
    Highly recommended even if you have seen the film.

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    Allybally said on Jan 20, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • If you read it after seeing the movie

    ... as usual the result will be disappointing. But for the book this time !! Although the book is nice and very easy to read, the movie is much better (and the plot is very different as well)

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    Laura A said on Feb 19, 2010 | Add your feedback

  • Probabily one of the very few cases in which I prefered the film over the book. I loved the structure of the plot but the author provides far too many minor details that make the story really boring sometime.

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    Minugia said on Sep 4, 2009 | Add your feedback

  • much much wonderful than the film -- slumdo, it's total different content with the movie , i like this book very much and start to read Vikas Swarup's next fiction ...

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    Finejenny said on Jul 25, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

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