From amazon.co.uk: "Eighteen-year-old Ram Mohammad Thomas is in prison after answering twelve questions correctly on a TV quiz show to scoop one billion rupees. The producers have arrested him, convinced that he has cheated his way to victory. Twelve extraordinary events in street-kid Ram's life - how he was found in a dustbin by a priest; came to have three names; fooled a professional hitman; even fell in love - give him the crucial answers. In his warm-hearted tale lies all the comedy, tragedy, joy and pathos of modern India."

The book will become a bookray.

Supertalya (South Korea) --> ships anywhere
hyphen8 (US) --> US shipping
grubsneerg (US) --> US/Canada shipping
bug2004 (US) --> US shipping
CynthiaA (Canada) --> ships anywhere
okyrhoe (Greece) --> ships anywhere
Fifna (Netherlands) --> EU shipping
franaloe (Netherlands) --> ships anywhere --> Book is here

--> Last person to release in the wild or pass on to another BC member

Update: August 2010
CynthiaA has now received this book from bug2004 after a long delay. In the meantime I sent a replacement copy. Both books will now continue as bookrays, and I have split the original list so that the remaining participants will get the chance to read it sooner (barring any further delays, of course!). Here is the "new" bookray.

Read this book during the past weekend, and really enjoyed it. However, I did think the ending was a bit predictable. I look forward to seeing what all the other readers think of it!

Since there are rather a lot of participants, I ask that you keep the book moving along. Don't hang onto it for months. More or less four weeks should be enough time to read it. However, if you need more time, that's OK too - as long as you let me know about it so that I don't worry :)

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Will be sending this to Supertalya tomorrow afternoon to start the bookring.

Edited 10 February: Sorry, I only mailed the package today. Why? I stupidly forgot a number of packages in my desk at work, while I went on leave! Book is travelling surface mail, so will take a couple of months to arrive. Sorry about that!

The timing wasn't that bad! I just received this and should get to it this weekend.

Loved, loved, loved it! I watched the movie first, I KNOW I shouldn't have, but I loved them both. When I watched the movie I wanted to know more...and I was able to read more. YAY!

Thanks for starting this bookring!!!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Enjoy!

Wow, that was fast! Received today with a bunch of bookmarks - thanks! Looking forward to this one, but I just started something else, so this will be the *next* book I read.

Thanks okyrhoe for posting the cover: I like to have the correct cover art shown - it helps me remember the book. :)

Well, I did read it right away..and thought it was terrific! Then Mom wanted to read it too, and I went on vacation, and...*now* I'm ready to send it on its way again when bookczuk is ready for it. I'm sure her life is a bit unsettled at the moment, so I'll check with her when I ask for her address.

I too saw the movie first, but in this case I think that might be a good order to do it in. The story goes in somewhat different directions in the two versions, but both are fascinating and absorbing. Thanks so much for sharing this book.

Copies of the movie tie-in version with the new title and cover on my shelf:

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/9736956
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/11508366

EDIT: bookczuk already has a copy, so I'm contacting grubsneerg instead.


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CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Mailed to grubsneerg today via media mail. Should take about 3 weeks, so don't get too anxious. :)

This arrived safely in today's mail. I'm in the middle of a book right now, but this one will definitely be next. Thank you for sharing, klaradyn, and for sending, hyphen8!

Vikas Swarup is very good at creating a vivid world populated with memorable characters with just his words; reading the book was almost like seeing a movie inside my head (I'll definitely be adding the *real* movie to my must-see list). Although there are far too many serious subjects in this book to label it as merely "entertaining," I did enjoy it and thought there were many thought-provoking, educational, and surprising turns of events, even in its more predictable moments.

"Q and A" is all packaged up and ready to mail to Bug2004.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to Bug2004 via Media Mail.

Re'cvd today...will get to it as quick as I can. Thanks for sharing!

Wonderful read!!! Loved this book!! It was easy to read, yet insightful. I am anxious to see the movie now!!

I am so, so sorry for keeping this so long!!! My hope is to get to the post in the next couple of days, however, we have ice covered roads w/ more snow set to make an appearance this evening and all day tmrrw!! Ugh!!!! It should be on the road by the weekend!

In an astonishing bit of bookcrossing serendipity, this book has arrived!

I look forward to it even more now, than I did when I first signed up for the bookring. And since it has been so long on the road, I will be most diligent in ensuring it continues on its journey expediently!

A lovely story and a book well worth reading, and also well worth the wait. :o) Thanks Klaradyn so much for helping me have this fantastic reading experience! I have waited to read the book before seeing the movie, and so will be going out in 2 nights time for a rental of Slumdog Millionaire!

This copy of Q&A is being shipped to okryhoe tomorrow.

Happy travels, little book!

Released via surface post to next reader in bookray.

Arrived in Athens safe and sound.
Thanks klaradyn for including me in the ring, and CynthiaA for posting the book to me!

Q and A is an engaging read, the storyline is unique and unpredictable, to a certain extent. The plot device, of providing a story explaining how the boy "knows" the answers to each question works very well to create suspense and keep the reader going.
In "The Burden of the Priest" the title is a reference to Rudyard Kipling, and "I am only an (idiot) orphan boy" echoes Voltaire's Candide. These are nice satirical touches and I was prepared to read the rest of the novel in that vein. There's plenty of irony again in "Tragedy Queen", and some other moments scattered throughout the story. However I feel that the sarcastic phrases are repeated too often and too close together, belaboring the obvious.
Also, what to make of the sappy melodramatic moments punctuating the ironic tone? The recurring dream of the tall woman in the white sari every time Ram Mohammed goes to bed...and then the episode with Shawkar's death (the orphan stutterer) that fills him with such rage and anger (which is soon forgotten). These seemed to me to be filler material, or episodes that the author hadn't completely thought out well enough, stylistically and thematically speaking. The tone of the narrative in those passages lacked the complexity (sarcasm) found in the better chapters.
Unfortunately I "lost" any empathy with the narrator during the Bollywoodesque love story between Ram Mohammed Thomas and Nita. The Taj Mahal scene in particular is such a cliche: "My mighty love breaks free of the earth, takes wing and soars into the sky, like a kite. And then, for the first time, the Taj Mahal feels like a living house instead of an impersonal tomb; the full moon over our heads becomes a personal satellite, shing a private light, and we feel blessed to be bathed in its celestal glow, in our exclusive heaven."
These weak elements distracted me from what I felt is the novel's strong point: the unifying theme of stories, and storytelling. The novel from start to finish is actually Ram Mohammed Thomas's "confession" to the "lawyer" Sumita. We aren't quite sure whether he is going to be truthful or not, and that's the major impulse keeping the narrative going.
And so the story begins, and we are caught up in the tale. Then there are several stories within the main narrative itself... the "colonel" stories of his war exploits, the hidden story of the Bollywood actress Neelima Kumari's private life (actually a fictionalized account taking liberties with the factual life of Meena Kumari), then Salim's account of what happened after the two boys parted ways, R.M.T.'s inventive history of the Taj Mahal, Sumita's . In the end, it's the reader who must judge whether the narrator is being truthful or not about everything. The way these stories interweave and the process of unraveling the connections to get to the truth engages the reader.

On its way by post to Fifna (ronsar asked to be skipped). Enjoy!

Arrived safely, thank you okyrhoe! It will be my next read.

Just to let you know, my previous read took me until yesterday to finish, a bit longer than I expected. I have started this book now, and I think this will be a much quicker read, so hopefully I won't delay it much longer.

I really enjoyed this book. At first I thought my memory was going as Ram kept referring to stories that hadn't been told yet as if they had, which made me wonder whether I had already forgotten what I'd read! It's almost like a collection of short stories, although they are all intertwined to some extent. I haven't seen Slumdog Millionaire yet, I was waiting till I'd read the book, so I'm looking forward to that now. The book in itself paints such a vivid picture, so I hope the film lives up to it (I'm told it does!).
Thank you for sharing, klaradyn. I'm PMing franaloe now.

On its way to franaloe!

It's here! I am in a very hectic period at the moment, so it might take me a little longer than 1 month to finish this book....forehand apologies for that. Thanks for sending and sharing!

Oh no! I had to work really really hard to finish my PhD dissertation. After handing in my work I went on holiday, but when I got to reading it, I noticed that I had already read this book and I just did not pay enough attention when signing up for this ring! Apparently I read the Dutch translation last year. I just recognized the author's name and thought this was another of his books. Alas!

Sorry for holding this ring up, I'll contact the next reader on the list.

The other readers on the list did not have time for this book, so I offered it as and RABCK on the forum. Q&A is now on its way to Soozreader, the winner of the draw. Have fun reading it!

Thank you very much for this book, I really look forward to reading this! I haven't seen the movie but maybe after reading the book, I'll want to see the movie too:)