Slumdog Millionaire (a.k.a. Q&A)

By: Vikas Swarup

Narrated by: Kerry Shale

Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

A small prison cell in India holds an 18-year-old penniless waiter from a Mumbai slum. But Ram Mohammad Thomas isn't a criminal. He is under arrest for correctly answering 12 tricky trivia questions on the show Who Will Win a Billion? Reluctant to part with the jackpot of one billion rupees, the show directors bribe the police to arrest Ram, accusing him of cheating. For how else could a poor, uneducated orphan know so much: the name of the smallest planet, global capitals, and diplomatic policy? Ram is rescued by a lawyer who draws from him the always compelling, touching, and sometimes comic story of his life, explaining the source of his knowledge. An inspired performance by reader Kerry Shale captures the spirit of this off-beat novel, a blend of high comedy and touching melancholy.

This novel was originally published with the title Q&A and is the basis for the movie Slumdog Millionaire.

©2005 Vikas Swarup (P)2005 HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

Critic reviews

• 2005 Audie Award Winner, Fiction (Abridged)

"Shale's performance is brilliant." (USA Today)
"Reader Kerry Shale captures every nuance and distinction of the many personalities involved." (Boston Globe)
"This production gains much from Shale's excellent and lively performance....Shale makes it sincere, hilarious, heartbreaking, and delightful....His gifted reading, full of emphasis, inflection, and excitement, is a joy to listen to." (Publishers Weekly)

Great story.

Moving , funny, sad, uplifting, good karma, moral message. All of these things are present in this morality tale. I could listen to this again and again.

Great story!

A great story expertly narrated. unfortunately the book was butchered by the movie.

Very Entertaining

I really enjoyed this book, the twists and turns of Ram Mohammad
Thomas's life, although fictional gave me an insight to the nonfictional lives of poor children in India. Recommended

Wish I hadn't seen the movie first...

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes. The length of the book was excellent. It was a really good story.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Slumdog Millionaire (a.k.a. Q&A)?

That sounds like a SPOILER to me and I don't do spoilers.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

This book is a movie and the movie was excellent. I think that I would have liked the book A LOT more but I had seen the movie and already knew what was going to happen. This took some of the suspense out that would have made it so much better.

Loved the story

I really enjoyed this book. I couldn't quit listening!

Excellent!

I haven't seen the movie, but this audiobook is a great listen! It's very funny, sometimes in a dark way, sometimes in a slapstick way...I found it reminded me of John Irving, especially Son of the Circus for the setting, the wonderfully strange characters, and the religious allusions. And that is high praise indeed...

OK story. Magnificent reading performance.

Most convenient of audible to let the user click on the narrator's name to see other books read by the same performer. Reviewing a book is straightforward, but with audiobooks there's more. There's a narrator and also possibly an abridgement. I suppose an audiobook could be rated sperately on all three.
The reading performance given by Kerry Shale on Q&A is unquestionably one of the best I've heard since becoming an Audible subscriber six years ago. The storyline is OK. It's entertaining and from the start it is not hard to follow. But the real entertainment here is supplied by narrator. So, if there were seperate ratings, I'd give the story a B and give the narration an A+. As for the abridgement, well that's moot. Unless they put out an unabridged version narrated by Shale, who cares? Simple printed words, abridged or not, could not compare.

Q&A

One of the most engaging voices to render an audiobook I've ever heard. The premise for the story's plotline is exceptionally clever and engaging. The author combines wonderful dialog conveyed via a first person narrative form to cover a wide range of very adult themes and related exposition police brutality, child abuse, prostitution in India, abuse of women, and corporate and bureaucratic corruption, class discrimination)with the optimism, humanity and sense of humor of the protaganist to present a wonderful tale. But as other reviewers note - the diversity of personalities presented with perfect mix of energy, pace and tone make this audio presentation stand out.

I've never been to India, but the atmosphere generated by the author's words, enhanced by Mr. Shale's top-notch effort, are transportive. The author's well-crafted denouement is simply a first rate treat!

Quieter & sweeter than the movie

I saw the movie first but had already purchased the audiobook, just not read it. I wondered why some of the plot sounded familiar.
What's amazing to me recalling the audio version is how UTTERLY different it is from the movie. People who are expecting the same thing will be very disappointed, I think. The similarities end once you get beyond the idea that the kid learned the answers to these trivia questions from his amazing life.

The book is still interesting in its own way but the lifelong romance with Latkia; the brother bond; the Hindu background were all dreamed up for the movie. If you can get beyond that, you'll enjoy the book. Narrator was great; really got me into the head of the adolescent boy who narrates this story in the first-story person.
The details on India seemed very authentic. I would also recommend the epic Shantaram if you want the feel of the nitty-gritty daily life in an Indian slum.

very entertaining

A great story! There are a few parts that are so unrealistic, it kinda ruins the believability of the story but it is all still very entertaining.