Book Review: Q & A - By Vikas Swarup

One day i was walking past big showrooms for buying shoes. My eyes stopped on one book lying on the dirty table of a roadside bookseller. Its name was "Slumdog Millionaire", i know that its original name is Q & A but now its being republished as Slumdog Millionaire. I had watched the movie (i will write its review later) so broadly i knew the story but still as from my past experiences i feel that reading a book is far more enjoyable then watching a movie based on the book. I bought it for Rs 80 and as soon as i came home i started reading it. The novel is exciting and the storytelling is so grounded in reality that from page 1 i could relate myself to the book. I have lived in Mumbai for few months so i know how things happen there, so for me it was all the more exciting. As i was busy that day i had to keep the book at my side and continue my other work. In few days time i finished the book and i have to say it was a enthralling experience.

The story is entirely grounded on reality of Mumbai. The philosophies, the situations, the characters all are real and can be found to you next door. If not next door then you are sure to find them in the daily news. Basically its the story of a boy named "Ram Mohammad Thomas" who by his various experiences in his life knows the answers of all the questions in the game show who wants to win 1 billion. A lady lawyer asks him and he tells how he knew the answers to all the questions. Seriously the experiences shown in the movie are so deep that its easily believable that the answer or the incident was totally stuck in the mind of the protagonist.

The novel also shows that all poor man are not angels nor all rich people are bad. You will find every sort of person everywhere. My favorite question is the one in which he recounts the story of a lady using vodoo on his husband and the most heartbreaking when one little boy dies of rabies. These events move you from within and you start to rethink that yeah this can happen to anyone in this world and the reaction from the protagonist is also natural (barring a few occasions where it was dramatic, but well it adds to the beauty of the book).

In the end as usual in books a happy ending comes. Every major character is happy, successful and leading a very good life. Overall a brilliant story. After all who doesn't like a underdog winning. But again my belief that reading a book is always better than watching a movie based on the book is reinstated from the experience.