Reviews - Slumdog Millionaire

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549 reviews for:

A fun book with filled with tragic stories, (that shouldn’t be possible, but oddly enough it’s true) this novel was supposedly the inspiration for the movie Slumdog Millionaire. I remember liking the movie, and this book is of a similar premise but with different but just as entertaining details. The characters and writing style were simple, but there was still enough depth to the characters to make me feel for them. The Indian cultural and geographic references were done well, although a few web searches were required to get the full meanings. Lots of tiffins which I learned were little lunch or snack boxes that are delivered by dabbawalas, companies that make and bring them to customers. So I enjoyed the story and learned a few things.

magnolia_blossom's review against another edition

4.0

Wow! This was so much better than the movie.

j_laws_tagg's review against another edition

4.0

Except for the basic story structure of a winner of game show being accused of cheating describing how, by chance, he learned each of the answers through his harrowing life experiences this book is nothing like the film. A really interesting study in how to adapt a book to film. Both the movie and the book are great. The book succeeds largely on the charisma of its main character and the distinct and engaging supporting cast (caste?). Ram is engaging, hilarious and honest and all the people he meets come fully-formed. You can critique the book's happenstance plotting (it can feel at times like an Indian Forrest Gump), but that is the whole point and faulting the author for that does you no good. Just enjoy the story.

valksky's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

uschu's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

lagarrett's review against another edition

3.0

The book that Slumdog Billionaire is based on - good tale of how a kid from the slums in Mumbai becomes a billionaire on a quiz show - slightly darker than the movie which has had a Bollywood sheen added to it, but an equally good story and a peek into another world. Not a long book and an engaging story with some good twists.

yvetteadams's review against another edition

3.0

Have you seen Slumdog Millionaire? It's based on this book. I don't remember much about the movie, but the book is basically a bunch of fictional short stories about Ram Mohammed Thomas's young life, and how those stories helped this uneducated boy to answer questions on the quiz show. I thought the storytelling was just ok, certainly not amazing writing, but I did love the ending.