The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach

[prendrelemick]

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach.

This is a book that had a bit of media buzz about it. It has been turned into a film recently starring a panoply of Venerable British Actourrs.

The story tells of a disparate group of pensioners who, lured by the promise of cheap living, warm weather and respectful locals, leave Britain to spend their retirement in a run-down hotel in Bangalore, Southern India.

It has been written like a film script, that old familiar structure of a short back story of various characters before they come together and interact, learn, and yes, you've guessed it ,go on a 'journey'. The under story, or moral if you like, is about the way society thinks of and treats the old, using the comparison of the uncaring West with the more respectful East . The families of the residents are examined too, They are busy and Western and have worries and concerns that suddenly seem trivial against the backdrop of India in the raw.

Once the characters are in place various shenanigans occur, Good ,bad, funny and of course bitter-sweet. I kept thinking of Animal House – The Geriatric version.

The writing is fine, the story is fine, there are a few elevated moments where you feel more involved but I thought real depth was missing. A good test of any book is to see if you care what happens to any of the characters, and this fell just a little bit short in that respect.

I bet it made a good film though.



Edit, Just read a wiki page about the film, hardly recognised the plot at all.

[qimissung]

I didn't know it was a book first! I guess it puts the lie to the old saw that the book is always better! I hate books that sound like they are a film script. Why not just write it as a script???

The movie looks kind of fun. Maybe I'll check it out and simply skip the book.

[prendrelemick]

.....

[prendrelemick]

A little research has shown me that THE BOOK was retitled after THE FILM'S sucess. It was originally called "These Foolish Things." In fact the film only claims to be based on the book, and it is the publishers of the book who are pushing the connection.

Anyway, a friend is lending me the DVD, she says it is wonderful.

[Paulclem]

A little research has shown me that THE BOOK was retitled after THE FILM'S sucess. It was originally called "These Foolish Things." In fact the film only claims to be based on the book, and it is the publishers of the book who are pushing the connection.

Anyway, a friend is lending me the DVD, she says it is wonderful.

Mrs Paulclem chose it last Saturday and we watched it that night. She'd heard about it and had wanted to see it at the pictures. It was ok, if a little predictable. I liked the views of Indian streets.

[prendrelemick]

Right, I've seen the film. It is about old people who go to India for their retirement, who have the same names as the characters in the book. After that the similarities become blurred.
I liked it though, I think the script writer liked his characters more than Deborah Moggach liked hers..