Slumdog Millionaire

Ram Mohammed Thomas is a waiter who gets the chance to appear on "Who Will Win a Billion?" on Indian TV. Even though the orphan has never been to school, an amazing sequence of coincidences allows him to answer the 12 questions correctly and win the billion rupees. The TV show thinks he must be cheating, especially since the producers hadn't planned on someone winning the billion before advertising revenue brought in more than the billion needed for the prize. So he is arrested. He tells his life story to his attorney, and through the questions the listener learns about his life and his real reason for going on the show. Kerry Shale reads the work well. The range of accents he gives the characters adds immeasurably to one's enjoyment in listening and in no way impedes the listener's ability to understand. R.C.G. 2006 Audie Award Winner (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

April 27, 2009
After enduring a childhood of poverty, violence and exploitation, Ram Muhammad Thomas wins a game show prize of one billion rupees. But the producers believe he has cheated and send him to the police to coerce a confession. Now, Thomas must defend his achievement and explain how a nobody without formal education won against impossible odds. Christopher Simpson's performance is both compelling and questionable; he conveys emotion powerfully but his mimicry of an Indian accent might make some listeners uncomfortable and sap the authority of the first-person narrative. Fans of the Academy Award–winning film adaptation of the novel (originally published as Q&A
) will find that this version offers nuanced pleasures of its own. A Scribner hardcover.

Ram Mohammad Thomas, an Indian Everyman, is an uneducated waiter who wins a billion rupees on a popular TV quiz show. After he wins, he's arrested and brutally interrogated because the authorities believe he cheated. As Ram details the events of his life, each vignette provides clues to his ability to answer the many obscure questions. Vikas Swarup's novel, originally titled Q & A, has more substance, more characters, and more drama than the Oscar-winning film made from it. Christopher Simpson's superb performance shows remarkable facility with accents. He highlights character traits and flaws, showing particular deftness with one character's speech impediment. Simpson ratchets up the level of intensity, etching enduring portraits of real people, making every meticulously recounted moment engaging, convincing, and riveting. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine