I make my own luck

Being part of the 'read it before you see it' brigade, I picked up 'Q&A' by Vikas Swarup last week, and ended up ploughing through it in two days. The novel has been adapted into a film called 'Slumdog Millionaire', which has played very favourably at Telluride and Toronto already. Also, did I mention it's directed by Danny Boyle, who has yet to make a film I didn't like? Very yes.

The story begins with a scene of heavy action, with a lowly waiter getting arrested and beaten up by the cops. He has just won the top prize of a billion rupees on a TV gameshow, and the producers of the show don't want to give him the money, so they're convinced that he has cheated. The body of the book involves him explaining, at length, how he knew each of the answers. The story pans his whole life and its myriad colourful experiences and personalities, from an insecure, aging actress to a venerable war hero to gangsters to Taj Mahal tourists to the world's greatest movie star. The individual stories are all attention grabbers, and it all connects neatly back to the overall narrative. And there's a nice little bit of extra drama at the end which'll surprise you.

That the film is worth seeing is of course a given, but I'd recommend the book highly too. Check it!



[Buy 'Q&A' US / UK]