A few months ago, my husband and I went to see Slumdog Millionaire in the theater. Nevermind the fact that we hadn’t seen a movie in a theater since Charlie Wilson’s War was out and the one before that was Balboa. Yes, three movies in two years.
Anyway, lack of date nights aside, I loved the movie. I stuck around through the credits and saw that the movie was in fact based on a book called “Q&A” by Vikas Swarup. It didn’t take me long to order the book to see how the story lines matched and plus I was curious about a few scenes in the movie that I wanted a little more explanation on.
About two chapters into the book, I knew I was reading a different story than what I had seen on the screen. The premise was still the same; a kid goes on a gameshow with a “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” style to it and does amazingly well considering his lack of education and his background. But that’s where the similarities end. His motivation for going on the show, his life, the people he meets along the way… it’s very different. Still a good read, but very different.
This is one instance (and it is extremely rare) that I liked the movie better than the book. If you’re a fan of the movie and you read the book, you’ll see why. I also recommend seeing the movie first (another rare thing for me to say) before you read the book. I would love to hear from someone who liked the book better and why.
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