Vikas Swarup's debut novel, Q&A, serves up a fresh and creative story, set in modern India. The unique structure and emotional depth of the writing allow Swarup to entertain and instruct on many levels.

The hero of Q&A possesses the unlikely name of "Ram Mohammad Thomas," apparently drawn from traditional Hindu, Muslim and Christian names at the same time. When we meet him, he is under arrest for having won a billion rupees on a game show called Who Will Win a Billion? (The Indian rupee currently exchanges at around 43 to the dollar).

Ram is arrested on the grounds that he must have cheated at the game show. Since he is a poor, uneducated orphan, working as a waiter in Mumbai, he could therefore not have possibly gotten all 12 of the progressively harder trivia questions correct. The police are in the process of trying to extract the truth from him about his cheating when a lawyer rescues him from prison.

The lawyer represents a godsend for Ram, but she also expresses some skepticism about his innocence. At her insistence, Ram tries to explain to her how he knew the answer to each of the questions. As they go over each question while watching a DVD of the show, more and more fascinating tales about Ram's life emerge.

What is exceptional and clever about this type of story structure is that it allows Swarup to write what are almost a series of independent short stories. Yet, the amazing story behind the answer to each of the questions concerns the same character, and all tie together in the spectacular ending.

In one instance, for example, everyone wonders how the almost completely uneducated Ram could have known that the smallest planet in the solar system is Pluto.

Ram explains in great detail how a down-on-his-luck astronomer moved with his family to the tenement apartment next door. The astronomer had turned to drink and behaved terribly, even becoming violent toward his family. Since the walls of the tenement were paper-thin, Ram and his roommate Salim had no trouble hearing all of the events going on in the place next door.

One day, the astronomer's daughter found a kitten and convinced her father to let her keep it. He agreed, on the condition it be named Pluto - being the smallest member of the family.

As the story goes on, Ram and his roommate Salim feel greater sympathy and compassion for the girl next door, who must live with an alcoholic father. Ram resolves to find a way to save her from her plight. The final resolution of the situation in the story makes it clear that Ram could never have forgotten the name of the cat, nor the meaning of that name.

In the course of his life, Ram is influenced and cared for by priests and whores, actresses and diplomats, exploiters of children and generous souls. He touches the history of the Taj Mahal and yearns for the future of PlayStation 3.

The meandering nature of his life, with loves and fortunes gained and lost, couched in Indian culture, might invite comparisons to some of the great mythic and allegorical works by which Swarup is undoubtedly influenced. From the Western world, Herman Hesse's Siddhartha comes to mind.

Although there's no overtly spiritual aspect to Ram's life, he nevertheless moves ever closer to the great liberation touted by our global culture: independent financial wealth. Indeed, strong themes of ambivalence toward money, along with wry cynicism regarding its distribution, can be found throughout Q&A.

Perhaps even in the title, Swarup gives a hint as to the allegorical nature of the novel. Considering the plight of this one boy winning a billion, in a country populated by a billion, one wonders if Swarup leaves us with more questions than answers.

Q & A

• By Vikas Swarup. Scribner, 336 pages, $24.

• Grade: A

Eric J. Blommel is a freelance writer living in Centennial.