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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
a page turner ..it's been a while since i've read such an interesting and entertaining book .. totally loved it.
Everything in this book made sense , the series of events are all connected and everything leads to everything .
Everything in this book made sense , the series of events are all connected and everything leads to everything .
This wasn't at all what I was expecting, which was something more along the lines of "Slumdog Millionaire." This book is not that movie. This book is darker, gritter, and much more sad. It's an entirely different story.
The ending twists completely surprised me - both of them. I was not expecting the motivation behind being on the game show or the lawyer's true identity. I liked how it all tied together in the end, but I had a hard time with this one otherwise. Perhaps because I listened to it, I would have enjoyed it more if I were reading it? I'm not sure. It was just OK for me - and I waivered between two and three stars, ultimately going with two.
*I read this as part of the 2021 Popsugar Reading Challenge - “A book whose title starts with "Q," "X," or "Z" "
The ending twists completely surprised me - both of them. I was not expecting the motivation behind being on the game show or the lawyer's true identity. I liked how it all tied together in the end, but I had a hard time with this one otherwise. Perhaps because I listened to it, I would have enjoyed it more if I were reading it? I'm not sure. It was just OK for me - and I waivered between two and three stars, ultimately going with two.
*I read this as part of the 2021 Popsugar Reading Challenge - “A book whose title starts with "Q," "X," or "Z" "
I watched the movie in like 2010 so I felt like I had a pretty good grip on this story (not)
But I knew it was good!!! I was nervous about the book... honestly... because a man wrote it sorry to all my men out there
To my surprise (it literally got a movie made out of it it should not have been a surprise) it was easy to read, captivating, had heart... it also did have fatphobia and homophobia and a little weird like sex stuff but then again it's older, a cultural difference, and etc so considering it wasn't bad at all in that front
Ram has had a crazy life, even though he's only 18 now, and his most recent adventure was going on a version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and won like a billion rupees... and now he's getting arrested for cheating LOL. (one of the most graphic sentences in the story is in the very beginning as the cop is trying to torture an answer out of him so ? power through it I guess)
He gets a lawyer and sits down to tell his story. What's interesting about this story is it's not told chronologically - it's told in order of the times in his life he learned the trivia that allowed him to answer the game show questions. The whole gig of the story is he's uneducated, poor, etc., but life circumstances have ended up leading him to know the exact answers to random questions. Like for example, he ended up being a tour guide at the Taj Mahal for a while, so even though he doesn't know anything else in history, he knows HELLA intricate stuff about the history of the Taj Mahal. And one of the questions involves that knowledge. So he just has a way to defend each question with facts of how he learned that information fair and square.
It's sad, at parts, because he's an orphan, and life is really hard for a poor 12 year old out there lol, but it's generally light-hearted which I can appreciate.
I think it holds up just fine, was still a really entertaining read, and made me wanna go back and rewatch the movie. So overall, I'm happy with my reading experience :-)
But I knew it was good!!! I was nervous about the book... honestly... because a man wrote it sorry to all my men out there
To my surprise (it literally got a movie made out of it it should not have been a surprise) it was easy to read, captivating, had heart... it also did have fatphobia and homophobia and a little weird like sex stuff but then again it's older, a cultural difference, and etc so considering it wasn't bad at all in that front
Ram has had a crazy life, even though he's only 18 now, and his most recent adventure was going on a version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and won like a billion rupees... and now he's getting arrested for cheating LOL. (one of the most graphic sentences in the story is in the very beginning as the cop is trying to torture an answer out of him so ? power through it I guess)
He gets a lawyer and sits down to tell his story. What's interesting about this story is it's not told chronologically - it's told in order of the times in his life he learned the trivia that allowed him to answer the game show questions. The whole gig of the story is he's uneducated, poor, etc., but life circumstances have ended up leading him to know the exact answers to random questions. Like for example, he ended up being a tour guide at the Taj Mahal for a while, so even though he doesn't know anything else in history, he knows HELLA intricate stuff about the history of the Taj Mahal. And one of the questions involves that knowledge. So he just has a way to defend each question with facts of how he learned that information fair and square.
It's sad, at parts, because he's an orphan, and life is really hard for a poor 12 year old out there lol, but it's generally light-hearted which I can appreciate.
I think it holds up just fine, was still a really entertaining read, and made me wanna go back and rewatch the movie. So overall, I'm happy with my reading experience :-)
If I hadn't been reading this for book group, I probably would have stopped early on, but not because of any flaw in the book. The things that happen to people around Ram (and by extension, affect him) are occasionally so horrible that I wanted to cry. However, I am VERY glad that I kept reading, because the ending is worth it. (I almost got teary-eyed.)
If you saw the movie, the only similarity is the fact that a poor, uneducated Indian boy goes on a game show and because of his experiences, he can answer all 12 questions. That's apparently it. So, forget the movie and go pick up the book. And then don't put it down!
If you saw the movie, the only similarity is the fact that a poor, uneducated Indian boy goes on a game show and because of his experiences, he can answer all 12 questions. That's apparently it. So, forget the movie and go pick up the book. And then don't put it down!
It definitely didn't live up to the hype that surrounded it (though I haven't seen the movie, so maybe that's a better medium for this story? Who knows.) But it occupied my time well enough.
I have not seen the movie and listened to the audiobook which I believe enhanced the experience. It was a wonderfully real story that I enjoyed every minute of. I have read several reviews that were upset with the depiction of the homosexual scenes of the book and I disagree with them. I think the writer does a very good job of depicting the TRUE response of a child who encounters a graphic sexual scene no matter the partners involved. Considering the context of the culture and the social status of the character the writer does a fine job.
This was a short story dragged out with unnecessary dialouge and stories. A sensationalized sterotype against the Indian nation of pure poverty and degradation. The blatant fat shaming and homphobia were rife within the pages. Danny Boyle did the author a favor and made this into a movie becuase if not if would just gade into the background.
I didn't actually finished because about 70% in, it fell over the cliche cliff for me. The first half was really good, though.