The Accidental Apprentice by Vikas Swarup

I have had this book on my shelf for over a year. I wanted to read it, because I really enjoyed Q&A by Vikas Swarup many, many years ago. I kept putting it off for the most shallow of reasons. I did not find the cover appealing because I do not like orange. It was completely and utterly because of the Rainbow Readathon that I picked it up at last. I REALLY don't like orange.

Sapna Sinha is given a rather unusual proposal. A multi-millionaire, a complete stranger, tells her that if she passes seven tests, she can become the CEO of his company. It would be her ticket from complete poverty to luxurious wealth. But there is that saying: if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Or is it?

As with all authors out there who have one massive first success, books they write post-success are compared to their first works. J.K. Rowling is in this category, and I feel Vikas Swarup is there too. This book does not have many great reviews on Goodreads, because it is not Q&A a.k.a Slumdog Millionaire. I don't think it is necessarily fair to compare books: The Girl on the Train is the next Gone Girl (no, it isn't - and that statement left many people very disappointed with The Girl on the Train.) and I don't think it is necessarily fair to judge an author's books against the one amazing one they wrote. Cormoran Strike is not Harry Potter, nor is the target market the same. In the same breath, The Accidental Apprentice is not Q&A. But perhaps it is just human nature and we have expectations.

After sounding like a champion for the book, I am going to be honest. This one was a quick, fun read, but it was not spectacular. The plot was based on a few lucky breaks and I found some things highly unlikely and unrealistic. There was a nice twist in the plot, though, which I did not see coming and thoroughly enjoyed. I also found the past and present story lines interesting. It had been a while since I had read a book set in India and I had fun returning and revisiting the country.

 I liked the characters. Sapna, the protagonist, was a level-headed woman who had a good moral code and a sense of responsibility. I do not give value to books solely because I can relate to the characters, but I really could relate a lot to what Sapna felt, especially with regards to her feelings of responsibility towards her family. Maybe that is what really made her character seem real to me. I could also understand and appreciate both her love for her sister and her annoyance with her sister. In fact, I can't really say there were any characters in this book that felt completely flat. Some were annoying (but one just needs to spend an hour out the house to discover that there are annoying people in the world), but as a whole, they felt real. I especially enjoyed the arc her neighbour underwent, first the Gandhian woman, prepared to die for her cause, to a celebrity.

I would recommend this book for readers who would like to start reading diversely, as it is not a difficult book to read at all and offers an interesting view into Indian culture without the romantic view of Bollywood movies. And it has cricket talk! (Maybe that isn't a selling point...)

This was the 35th books read for the 2015 TBR Pile Reading challenge.
I gave this one 4 stars on Goodreads, although I think it was closer to a 3.5. It was mostly fun, although I think that there were definitely some interesting points made with regards to some characters. I might need to give this one a bit more thought. Maybe I will have a more solid view when I do my (probably late) monthly wrap up.