book review: q & a by vikas swarup

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Q & A was the basis of Slumdog Millionaire. I have still not seen the movie, but I loved the book. The premise is brilliant and simple: a poor waiter in Mumbai lands on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and he wins. The producers are convinced he cheated; how could this uneducated young man possibly know the answers to all these questions? The book takes us through his life, question by question. The chapters go in the order of the game show, so it's not chronological in Ram's life.

The book was an absolute joy to read. It was a beautifully haunting look at the unglamorous realities of life in India. As I love to say about great novels, the plot is not truly what it's about. Aren't we all representations of our collective knowledge from surprisingly and usual places? I love to ask the question, "how do you know that?" because it so often leads to great stories of happenstance. I'm eagerly awaiting Swarup's next book, Six Suspects, set to be published on July 7, 2009, according to Books in Print. If anyone at MacMillan St.Martin's is listening, I'd love an ARC!

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