Slumdog Millionaire (Joe Kelly)

Slum dog millionaire, Vikas Swarup, Random House Group LTD, 318 pp.

I found the book in my bathroom reading material.

Summary: a young Indian man named Ram, with hopes of beginning a financially stable life has his prayers answered when he answers all the questions right on a cash prize game show. But when this lower class orphan’s status is brought into question and the idea that he might have cheated arises, those dreams are quickly compromised. He finds himself being tortured in a run down jail sell and eventually answering a series of questions to try and explain his trivial knowledge of the game shows questions. He tells tales of his hardships and lessons to prove himself worthy of accepting his rightful prize of several million rupees witch is close to one million dollars in U.S currency. But as we look through his past we see a hard life that although has served him in this scenario, must have been hard to live with.

The audience is those who enjoy a comeback kid or underdog victory, as the perseverance and adversity of Ram prove to be just that.

Swarup enjoys using a question and answer style to make the novel more realistic and understandable. He has a very descriptive style with excellent attention to characterization and painting a picture.

“do you notice when you breath, no you just simply know that you are doing it, I did not go to school, and I did not read, but I tell you, I knew those answers,” (18).

Passages:
“So do I need to know your whole life to know how you knew the answers?” (18).
I chose this passage because it truly epitomizes the idea that one persons life holds so many lessons learned and that no one can even imagine everything that someone else has experienced and that’s what makes us all different.

“Can we call him Jupiter?”
“no he is the smallest we can only call him Pluto”(60).
I chose this one because it shows how belittling some people can be and how just because someone looks small they are most likely going to be judged as weak. It bothers me.

“Last night I was arrested for winning a quiz show” (1)
I chose this because it sarcastically shows how unjust this Indian country is. I like the way that you can feel the speaker’s angst and sarcasm and almost confusion. I thought it really gave a good idea of how unfair the setting was.
My Relationship:This book was weird because I first only watched the movie thinking that it would be similar to the book. Wrong. They ended up being completely different so I actually ended up having to read for once. But I’m glad because I liked the book better as did a lot of other people I think that the story is valuable and inspiring to anyone who is willing to give it time to be read, but it is slow in some parts. Over all I didn’t mind it at all and would