Q and A [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Swarup's inventive debut traces the fortunes of Ram Mohammad Thomas from "Asia's biggest slum" to his sudden acquisition of enormous wealth as the biggest winner on the popular quiz show, Who Will Win a Billion? A poor, uneducated waiter, Ram is arrested after the final episode in the belief that he must have cheated. In jail he shares his hardscrabble life with his lawyer: his abandonment at birth in a used clothing bin, the church orphanage where he was dubbed an "idiot orphan boy," the foster home where children were purposely crippled and forced to beg, the estate of an Australian diplomat who was really a spy, the home of an aging Bollywood actress, and his meager waiter job. Each chapter in Ram's life provided him with a correct answer on the show, as a la Forrest Gump, he has been in the right place at the right time. Ram's funny and poignant odyssey explores the causes of good and evil and illustrates how, with a little luck, the best man sometimes wins. Deborah Donovan
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Der Gewinn in einer großen Quiz-Show hat für den jungen Ram ganz ungeahnte Folgen. Er wird des Betrugs angeklagt, denn keiner glaubt, dass der mittellose Kellner die Fragen allein hat beantworten können. Wie es soweit kommen konnte, erzählt dieser herrlich skurrile, traurig-komische indische Gegenwartsroman.

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.

Vikas Swarup hat als indischer Diplomat in der Türkei, in den USA, Äthiopien und Großbritannien gearbeitet. Zurzeit ist er beim Außenministerium in Neu Delhi beschäftigt.