Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire book cover

Slumdog Millionaire

Paperback – International Edition, December 9, 2008

by
Price
$16.95
Format
Paperback
Pages
320
Publisher
HarperCollins Publishers
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1554685134
Dimensions
5.31 x 0.72 x 8 inches
Weight
9.4 ounces

Description

Review “Fun, intelligent and leaves you wanting more.” — <em>Toronto Star</em> “A dream of a book.” — <em>Winnipeg Free Press</em> “This brilliant story, as colossal, vibrant and chaotic as India itself . . . it is not to be missed.” — <em>The Observer</em> “A rare, seemingly effortless brew of humour, drama, romance and social realism. . . . Swarup has achieved a triumph with this thrilling, endearing work which gets into the heart and soul of modern India.” — <em>New Zealand Herald</em> “Swarup is an accomplished storyteller, and [ Slumdog Millionaire ] has all the immediacy and impact of an oral account.” — <em>Daily Mail</em> “Mingling broad humour with incisive social comment . . . absorbing and richly entertaining reading.” — <em>The Times</em> “This lively picaresque novel has an original and telling premise . . . a colourful portrait of Indian society is painted with remarkable lightness and wit.” — <em>Sunday Telegraph</em> “A hugely successful mixture of satire and intrigue.” — <em>Independent on Sunday</em> “Sweet, sorrowful and funny. An enchanting tale.” — <em>The Sunday Tribune</em> (India) “This page-turning novel reels from farce to melodrama to fairy tale.” — <em>You Magazine</em> “A very clever story told very cleverly and at a relentless pace.” — <em>Sydney Morning Herald</em> “Poignant, funny, rich . . . with an utterly original and brilliant structure at its heart.” — Meg Rosoff, author of <em> How I Live Now </em> “That rare novel that chugs along on the parallel tracks of being a rollicking read as well as being a polished, varnished, finished work of impressive craftsmanship.” — <em>Hindustan Times</em> About the Author VIKAS SWARUP is the author of Slumdog Millionaire (previously published as Q & A ), which was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book (Eurasia), won the Boeke Prize (South Africa) and was made into a celebrated feature film that won eight Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. He has been a member of the Indian Foreign Service for over thirty years and was recently appointed as High Commissioner of India to Canada. He is also the author of the novels Six Suspects and The Accidental Apprentice . His books have been translated into over forty languages.

Features & Highlights

  • Ram Mohammad Thomas has been arrested—for answering twelve questions correctly on TV’s Who Will Win a Billion? Ram has never gone to school and never read a newspaper. There is no way a poor orphan from Jimmy’s Bar could know the names of the planets or the plays of Shakespeare ... unless he cheated. Rescued from his police cell by a lawyer, Ram reviews television footage of his flawless performance and takes us on an amazing tour of his life growing up in Asia’s biggest slum—from the day he is salvaged from a garbage can, to his job with a faded Bollywood star, to working as an over-creative tour guide at the Taj Mahal, to falling in love with Nita, a young prostitute. A brilliantly conceived fable with a modern sensibility, Slumdog Millionaire is a comic and charming novel that paints an enthralling portrait of humanity.
  • Originally published as
  • Q&A
  • .

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(372)
★★★★
25%
(155)
★★★
15%
(93)
★★
7%
(43)
★
-7%
(-43)

Most Helpful Reviews

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If you loved the movie, you'll be disappointed by the book.

I loved the movie and like most i have come to expect more from the novels than the movies created from them. However, not in this case. This type of book (the genre if you will) is exactly my type of book. I don't claim to know a great deal of Indian poverty however i can tell you that this book so poorly represents the truth of slum living in India and the plight of orphans that i feel embarrassed for the writer. The movie was far more realistic and the storyline was significantly altered to this effect. Take out the Indian names, the references to Indian food and the names of Indian locations and this could be a book about an orphan growing up in England or USA only with an excessive number of references to pedophilia. The author is deeply out of touch with the true India. As a diplomat he has obviously spent far more of his life outside of India and I am extremely confident he has never truly experienced an Indian slum except maybe peering in from the outskirts. I would imagine some poorer class Indians would find this novel offensive. HOWEVER, i gave the book a good chance. It is light and humorous at times, but after a four or five chapters the poor writing is a real struggle. It is very basic writing, it has no flow or structure and the strength of the story is weak despite the remarkable life he is trying to describe. This man is not a talented author.
1 people found this helpful
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On the edge of my seat!!

I never saw the movie and did not even know this was a book until I saw it inadvertantly at the library. Since I heard such great things about the movie, why not read the book?
I do not regret it. I loved the format of the book, weaving stories of the main character's life by the questions on the show. There are some parts in the novel that made me laugh out loud. And just when I thought I knew how this would end (we all know he won the show, right??), there awaits a pleasant surprise!
Although this was a quick and entertaining read, by no means was it a light read. It dealt with the poorest of the poor in India, ranging from stealing food from a trash bin to an abandoned child suffering from rabies to sodomy as a interrogation tact from the police. Another story that makes me see just how fortunate I am.
I will watch the movie now. I have seen reviews on here that comment how the book is not as good. I, on the other hand having just read the book, can only hope that the movie will be even half as good!
1 people found this helpful
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Great Movie, Even Better Book

Slumdog Millionaire, previously known as Q & A by Vikus Swamp was a very interesting book. Even if you have seen the movie, the book is different with the same plot so it is worth the read. Personally, I think the book was better than the movie. The only negative is that it jumps from story to story which is somewhat confusing, but what makes it also so interesting. I would recommend this book to the fans of the movie or if people have not yet seen the movie and want to, they should read the book first.
1 people found this helpful
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Great Read

If you saw the movie version, you will be surprised at the differences. Looks like they cleaned up the script for the movie version to make it more palatable to the audience. Read the book and see for yourself.
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An Amazing Story!

If you are expecting a rehash of the movie, that is not you will get with this book. You can see the influence in bits and pieces of the novel, the basic premise is still present, but the end result is something quite different.

Ram Mohammed Thomas is an orphan whose life has gravitated toward an appearance on a campy game show. After winning the ultimate prize, he is promptly arrested for cheating, only to be saved by a lawyer who demands his immediate release. He returns to the lawyer's home and reveals how he knew the answers to all 12 questions.

What follows is a powerful of Ram's life. The stories have elements that range from pure comedy to tragedy, but each story is riveting! I highly recommend reading this book!
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It's Not the Movie... It's Much Better!

If you haven't read Q & A by Vikas Swarup, you should. Even if you hated the movie that was based on it, Slumdog Millionaire, you should read the book (like most book/movie adaptions, the book is very different, and much better!).

This book is unique and creative, and different than almost anything out there. The story itself could have been just another story of a boy in the slums of India, growing up without parents and ending up on a quiz show. And I probably would never have picked it up.

What makes this book different is its structure: the whole format of the book is different than anything else I've read. Its premise is stated in the first few pages: boy from slums wins a billion rupees on game show and is arrested for cheating. How can a boy with no education know the answers to questions most people in India don't know?

The rest of the book is structured by the game show: each chapter is a slice of the boy's life, followed by the question. Of course, each answer comes from the experiences of his life.

Unlike the movie, the book doesn't follow a chronological timeline. It jumps back and forth through his life, with few threads throughout so it's almost a series of vignettes about his life that you might be tempted to think have no bearing on each other at all. In this way, it's easy to read, quick, certain sections more interesting than others, but all like pieces of a puzzle.

And the end... BAM! Just when you think it's just a story about his life.... maybe a commentary on the game show industry or on poverty or a referendum on how humans treat each other... it suddenly becomes something much greater. The threads of the story-line, all seemingly random, come together in a WOW moment.

Swarup could have written this book with a traditional chronological structure, but my guess is the book might never have been picked up. What makes it fantastic - what gives it that WOW factor in the last few pages - is it's uniqueness in the way it uses time and the way time is less important than the quiz show format. It's brilliant.

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