| Title | : | The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 336 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2004 |
| Awards | : | Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize Comic Fiction (2004) |
Now a major motion picture starring Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Billy Nighy, and Dev Patel
When Ravi Kapoor, an overworked London doctor, reaches the breaking point with his difficult father-in-law, he asks his wife: “Can’t we just send him away somewhere? Somewhere far, far away.” His prayer is seemingly answered when Ravi’s entrepreneurial cousin sets up a retirement home in India, hoping to re-create in Bangalore an elegant lost corner of England. Several retirees are enticed by the promise of indulgent living at a bargain price, but upon arriving, they are dismayed to find that restoration of the once sophisiticated hotel has stalled, and that such amenities as water and electricity are . . . infrequent. But what their new life lacks in luxury, they come to find, it’s plentiful in adventure, stunning beauty, and unexpected love.
--penguinrandomhouse.com
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Reviews
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This book caused me actual, literal pain.
The jacket describes it as the story of Dr. Ravi Kapoor, a Brit whose desire to oust his lecherous, disgusting father-in-law from his home leads to his concocting the idea of setting up a retirement home for expats in India. A "brilliant comedy of manners" is supposed to ensue.
Well, it never comes. Dr. Kapoor appears only to bookend the story. The rest of it follows the lives of a bunch of racist old white people, doggedly thinking their dreadful racist thoughts without a smear of understanding or empathy. The worst of them sexually assaults an Indian girl because his head is full of ideas about the tantric wantonness of Indian women (backed up by what Moggach banally refers to as the "Karma Sutra", multiple times); the supposedly best of them thinks fondly that this same Indian girl's hair reminds her of her dog's shiny black coat. That sums up the functions of Indian characters in this book. They are either exotic sex objects or humble pets, unwitting and unwilling objects of desire or model minorities who submit to the white Britishers' prejudices and whims.
No aspect of India escapes Moggach's derisive, Othering, patronizing pen: she insistently refers to hijra as "eunuchs" (which they are not); Indians are constantly, explicitly fetishized (with lingering, uncomfortable descriptions of the brownness of their intimate skin); there is a running list of Indian products that are inferior to Western ones (plastic, sticky notes, plaster bandages). Moggach references Black people in two ways — thugs who attack one of the old women, and multiple uses of the word "nigger" — and includes many casually scornful references to Jewish and gay people and of course uses "Muslim" as synonymous with "terrorist".
This is supposed to be a fun, frothy read. I hunted down reviews when I was done and found that they all lauded Moggach for writing something so witty and insightful and touching. I find it hard to see any wit or insight or compassion in a book that refers to my Hindu god Ganesh as "the sort of thing you won at a fairground and then wished you didn't have to take home."
Just typing that out made me feel sick again.
And yes, I know that people who enjoyed this book would probably say, "Oh, but you're supposed to think the old people are racist! That's why the book is a black comedy, because it shows people with all their flaws!" To that I say, twaddle. If your characters — your sympathetic characters, the ones that readers are supposed to relate to and feel affection for — are raging and unrepentant bigots who are exactly as racist at the end of the book as they were at the beginning, you are not writing a comedy of manners. You are not writing an acute observation of humanity (unless to you, "humanity" refers only to white people, which I suspect it does). You are writing a hurtful piece of trash that promotes wretched and insidious stereotypes, and you are too immersed in your own ignorant privilege to even see it.
This is quite possibly the worst book I have ever read. I have never before encountered something so blithely, smugly cruel that didn't actually identify itself as hate literature up front.
August 2019 ETA: Do not leave a comment trying to argue with me about my review. I am not interested. I will not engage. I probably will leave your comment up so that other people who DO understand why a woman of Indian descent didn't like this book will also understand the lengths that people will go to in order to defend their enjoyment of something racist. Thank you and good day. -
After watching the film "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" recently, I noticed the title of this book in the credits. It has been re-titled with the name of the movie, but this is the original book, published in 2004. I enjoyed it just as much as I did the film, although, as others have noted, it differs in substantial ways. I suppose the changes made to the film version were done in order to streamline the story, but it did make for a very different tale than that told in the book. This all goes to say that you may enjoy the book in its own right; it has very little similarity to the film.
As is typical for a book version, there is much more depth to the characters, and because you are able to fall more thoroughly into their lives, there is more to consider. Beyond being just a good story, this book has some serious things to say about how the elderly are perceived and treated in Western cultures. The people in this book didn't just decide to move far from their homes to a very different culture on a lark. Most of them moved because they had so little money they needed to live in a place where their funds would stretch further. They also had been neglected by their families and been made to feel themselves a burden to their children. There is an interesting comment in the book, made by someone from the Indian culture into which they are thrust in Bangalore, to the effect that the elderly are valued in India and that families care for their older folk. One of the British women wryly says, sotto voce, that they don't seem to value begging children to the same degree. More than once, a character says wistfully that, as one ages, one becomes more invisible. It didn't surprise me to find out that the author is in her 60s. As one of the book's characters says, after her father dies, she is now an orphan, and further, she is next in the queue.
This book brought to mind a wonderful quote I read recently from the British writer, Martin Amis (from an article in Smithsonian magazine):
"Your youth evaporates in your early 40s when you look in the mirror. And then it becomes a full-time job pretending you're not going to die, and then you accept that you'll die. Then in your 50s everything is very thin. And then suddenly you've got this huge new territory inside you, which is the past, which wasn't there before. A new source of strength. Then that may not be so gratifying to you as the 60s begin, but then I find that in your 60s, everything begins to look sort of slightly magical again. And it's imbued with a kind of leave-taking resonance, that it's not going to be around very long, this world, so it begins to look poignant and fascinating."
What this book does that is very special is that it makes you see that aging does not take away the beauty and depth of each person's humanity. They cry out to be visible, to be valued for what they offer. They haven't reached some artificial plateau when all growth ceases. They are still changing and learning and loving and growing. They are not some faceless, gray-haired mass lingering in the wings, drifting off one by one. These are vital human beings with a story to tell and much still to offer. -
I watched the movie adaptation of this book and loved it. At the time, I had no idea it was based on a book. Browsing during my library book sale I came across this book and snatched it up. Where it sat for months and months. So now, I'm trying to read the books I own and picked this up. What a fun read. I love reading anything about India and Indian culture. Obviously a bit different from the movie version, but I enjoyed both.
The story follows a number of elderly people who have it rough in the UK with health care and retirement home prices. A doctor, from India, who wants to get rid of his annoying father in-law and the doctor's cousin, who is always looking for a new business. Which comes, the Marigold Hotel, a retirement home where the elderly can leave the dreary weather and high costs in the UK to move to India. I enjoyed reading this one and getting more detail on each of the guests at the hotel. Now, I feel I need to watch the movie again. Though, I'm most happy that I read a book that was on my shelves instead of buying new ones. Progress! -
This book disappointed me.
It was first published (in 2004) with the title “Those Foolish Things.” It was later renamed “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” following the release in 2011 of the film with that name, which is based on it.
I read the book because I had seen the film and enjoyed it, and also because unlike the film, which is mostly set in a small town in Rajasthan, the novel is set mostly in Bangalore, a city that I know quite well.
Had I not seen the film first, I might have abandoned the book before reading too far into it. The first section of the book provides a series of realistic portrayals of the fears of elderly retired people facing rejection by the younger generation and also anticipating their gradual decline towards death. However, I pressed on with reading this well-paced novel because I knew from the film that things were likely to start looking up as the people, who were being described, were about to take off to spend the rest of their retirement in a hotel in India.
I don’t know whether the author has actually visited India, but I got the feeling from reading this book that she might not have done so. Although the book is not exactly about India, I felt that the author did not transport me to India. She did not allow me to visualise a real place as I read her book.
Some of the retired English people in the hotel in Bangalore used email. This suggests to me that the writer was writing about recent times. However, the Bangalore that she describes does not sound nearly as sophisticated as the city actually is. I thought as I read the book that she could have been describing almost anywhere, throwing in a few local terms to remind the reader that it was India rather than anywhere else.
Sevearal specific things particularly irritated me about this book. One occurred on page 169 of my edition. Dorothy and Douglas are discussing something between themselves. The proof-reader and the editor failed to spot the subject of the sentence: “Donald paused” is ‘Donald’ rather than ‘Douglas’, which it was supposed to be. This is careless in a best seller. On page 186, another problem occurred. Evelyn, one of the retired Brits, is given a business card, which reads ‘Dr Gulvinder Gaya, BA (Failed)’. The reason that Dr Gaya included the sad outcome of his degree is, I believe, to tell the recipient of his business card that he managed to gain admission into a university, which in itself was an achievement to be proud of. I hope that I am wrong, but I had the impression that the author chose to include this for reasons that may have had more to do with making fun of the Indian, than for any other reason. Another small gripe, if I am permitted to make any more of them, is that twice Ms Moggach refers to visiting a temple at ‘Halebib’. Was she inventing a new temple site or did she incorrectly spell the name Halebid, which is a real temple of some note a few hours drive from Bangalore?
Despite my reservations about Ms Moggach’s portrayal of India and the Indians, this novel is a creditable effort to illustrate the fears and concerns of those in the twilight of their lives.
The best thing about Ms Moggach’s book is that it inspired someone to make an excellent film, whose plot and sympathetic portrayal of India and the Indians is far better than the original story upon which it is loosely based. -
I was actually quite disappointed with this book. I saw the film first, on a miserable rainy day, and came out totally wrapped up in the lives of the characters, and I really felt transported to India. Because I came away from the cinema with a warm glow, I was really excited to read the book, because, well books are always better than the films, right? Sadly, not in this case, and I wonder whether I would have stuck with it had I not enjoyed the film so much. It felt too messy, there were lots of unlikeable characters, most changed beyond recognition from those I had grown to love in the film. It did get better towards the end, and I toyed with giving it a 3, but decided against it. If you've seen and loved the film, do yourself a favour and leave the book alone.... (I do wonder if the book suffered as the film was so good - a friend read it recently without having seen the film and really enjoyed it, maybe I was just expecting so much more...)
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Better than the movie!
At times I felt it was so different too. I love how it was interpreted, but I do love the flow
of the story more when reading it.
I actually had to forget what I had seen. The characters they chose for the film seemed
quite different than the book. While some I could connect the dots, others it was hard, so I just let it go and read. I'm glad I did too. I found the book so much more rich in Indian culture. It made me want to go and stay at the Marigold Hotel myself, or even the Hotel Balmoral. I just want to be there.
The story, or rather one specific character, is more racist than I remember in the movie.
'Only a different color skin could get his mojo working. Women like these knew how to
satisfy a man, it was their culture'. Say what?! My mouth hung open for that one. But I'm
glad it didn't put me off or stop me from reading. Those shocking moments, or character
flaws, kind of make the story more real. It's sad, but there is some really racist people out
there.
All in all, if you haven't seen the films or read the book, I suggest starting with the story.
So good. So very good. -
I'm going through my fave books and posting mini-reviews of those I think others would really like. And this is one of them, about British adult children who decide the best way to get their pesky elders out of the way is to start a retirement home in India. Very funny and an excellent statement on how no one should be underestimated because of age.
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I was disappointed with this book. The premise was great, however the story failed to progress and the writing was very uneven, some of it being beautiful, while much of it was needlessly vulgar and tawdry.
Ravi, a competent, sensitive doctor, is slowly being ground down by the decaying British NHS and his father-in-law Norman, a dirty old man 'straight out of Benny Hill' who comes to stay with them after being thrown out of a nursing home for sexually assaulting a nurse, bringing his disgusting personal habits and taste for pornography with him. Norman's presence is putting a serious strain on Ravi's marriage, and when Ravi meets up with an entrepreneurial Indian cousin, a new idea is hatched for a successful business and for dispatching the Aged P. Just as so many other things are being outsourced to India, why not aged care? A retirement home in India, with cheap, plentiful labour, low costs, and sunshine, to accommodate the elderly people for whom Britain no longer has a place.
Gradually other lonely, elderly Britishers with limited budgets and sad stories sign on for the idea and make their way to Bangalore. Once there, the residents of the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel begin to make new lives for themselves.
The first three of four pages were really beautiful, but after that the author provides too much detail about Norman's habits to make for pleasant reading. The introduction to Evelyn, Muriel and Dorothy was also beautifully presented. After that, however, it was largely downhill.
This book is billed as being comic, but, while it has flashes of humor, I didn't find it funny at all.
What really destroyed the book for me was the author's harshly explicit references to assorted sex acts and functions that littered the novel, particularly the last third, unaccompanied by any connection with love or self-giving. Evelyn's desperately lonely 49 year old daughter, Theresa, who has been wandering round India seeking spiritual solace and enlightenment finds 'happiness' and a new self in a two-week torrid fling with a dodgy English stranger. Admitting that no love is involved on either side, she is affirmed by being sexually desirable, by the experience of 'rapture' and by accepting that the best attitude is one of 'easy come easy go' instead of trying to form 'relationships', an attitude which has previously hampered her in the past.
Norman, whose motive for agreeing to the move to India is his belief that he will find voluptuous sensual women eager to meet his needs, spends much of the book attempting to find them, and gets his comeuppance when he has a heart attack and dies after a nasty shock in a brothel. It seems that this is supposed to be funny. I had hoped that having included him in the story the author would have him come to discover some sort of respect for women, or at least for himself, by the end, but he is just one continuous noxious presence that detracts from anything positive that could be said about the book.
The attitude to marriage is almost entirely negative. The marriage of Ravi and his wife teeters on the brink until the end of the book, and while it appears to be improving, there is no indication that it will last. Ravi's brother-in-law is cowed and miserable before his wife and his mother. The hotel manager is completely miserable in his marriage (this again is supposed to be amusing), but his problems are resolved when his marriage breaks up. Charles, Evelyn's son, is stuck in a miserable marriage and is despised by his spoilt children. Towards the end of the novel he gathers up the resolve to escape, remaining in India to take up with an Indian hotel-greeter, however within the month he is collected by his bossy wife and returns home. Keith, Theresa's find, has managed to lose track of his fifth wife and her children in his sudden flight from the British police for shady business dealings, and isn't remotely interested in finding her. Jean and Douglas Ainslie are envied as the only married couple at the Hotel and they seem to have the perfect marriage. When Jean is prostrated by grief on discovering her son's homosexuality Douglas, after more than 40 years of marriage suddenly discovers that he doesn't care whether she is happy or not, and in fact doesn't like her at all and has never really loved her. At the end of the book Jean returns to England while Douglas gives Evelyn a happy ending by marrying her.
Add to that a patronising and objectifying attitude towards Indian men and women, Indian products, Indian business and industry, and ridicule of the Hindu religion.
Not a good read.
What I did like about this book was the initial presentation of the gentle widow Evelyn, the cockney racist Muriel, and the retired Dorothy. Evelyn is portrayed as a kind, thoughtful person with love to lavish on the desperately poor children outside the hotel. Also enjoyable and amusing is the friendship she arranges between the young people who work at the call centre across the road with the residents of the Hotel (although even that is spoilt by Norman's groping of the girls). I admired Muriel's courage, as she faces a trip to India after a lifetime of fear, ignorance and resentment of people from other racial backgrounds who have come to London, a violent mugging, the ransacking of her home, near destitution and the loss of her son. I also admired her love for her son and her faith that he would come to look for her, and I loved the fact that Keith, in all other respects a repellent individual, really does love Muriel, worries over her and is overjoyed to find her again.
These elements, however, were just not enough to make me appreciate this book. -
An excellent examination of the business of growing old this highly original tale centres around a retirement home set up in Bangalore with the intention of attracting British pensioners.
We are introduced to a variety of characters, from the Indian operators of the home to the incoming residents and their offspring - ranging from the unscrupulous to the exasperated - who are prepared to export their ageing parents halfway across the globe. As the new arrivals touch down on Indian soil the plot takes a breather. At that point I fet there was no plot hook, nothing specific to force the reader to read on, beyond an interest in the characters and the way they are likely to react to eachother and their new environment. Fortunately this is what Deborah Moggach does best - the development of fascinating characters through sharp and witty observation ('Look at that Mrs Greenslade, a vision in beige, so well mannered she hardly existed any more....'). There are so many of them clamouring for our attention; if anything the book was too short to accommodate them all - expand it a bit and we would have had more time to enjoy the individual stories branching off the main 'trunk' of the story. This said, everything was resolved with the help of some hectic head-hopping as the book headed for its conclusion A jolly good read, as always from Deborah Moggach. She writes the sort of lively character-based fiction that Kate Atkinson writes with such commercial success, and she has been doing it for years and years. -
Go directly to the movie. Do not stop to browse. Do not try a sample chapter. Do not even read the blurb on the back of the book. Go directly to the movie.
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I am glad that finally after a very long time on mnt toobie - I have got around to reading this novel. It is a real delight, and it I have discovered a writer I had not previously read. This is a funny and touching comedy of manners set in London and Bangalore, but it has many quite profound things to say really, about ageing, family, and lonliness, and about how important it is to feel a part of something, a family, a group, something to identify with. There is a wonderful cast of characters - some of whom behave quite badly - but for whom the reader is allowed to feel quite a bit of sympathy. I must say if I could I would pack my bags now and head out to Dunroamin in Bagalore - even though I'm still a little too young it would do me the power of good I think,.
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A nice enough little story about about some elderly English living out their senility in India.
Gosh, even that sentence bores me. I don't want to be overly negative, it was an okay book. It was a fast read which helped, any longer/slower and I would have abandoned it.
The first three-quarters of the book were setting the scene for a plot that lasted barely a dozen pages. The characters were lovely, lots of unexplained behaviors. Was this book written with a movie in mind?
I wouldn't read it again. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I wouldn't tell anyone not to read it either... One of this kind of books. -
Beautiful! Written in a very down to earth with a certain cheek style, this novel delves into the essence of our humanity, our restless search for the meaning of life and happiness.
The novel casts lively characters that burrow under your skin without your realising it and two countries: Britain and India take prominent roles in this colourful tapestry woven with skill for the sheer joy of the reader.
This is the first book I've read from the author and I really had a ball. I look forward to reading more from her. -
The last book I read about Brits mixin' it up with the people of India was
A Passage to India. That story involved false accusations, bad behavior, and a whole lot of characters I wanted to punch.
Everyone manages to mind their manners in this book, and many of the characters are genuinely likeable - even the ever-randy Norman Purse, who's been more than a wee bit frisky since his prostate operation.
Norman's the guy who basically gets the ball rolling in this book when he moves in with his daughter and son-in-law, Ravi. Norman's annoying presence and slovenly habits drive Ravi to dream up a way to be rid of the old man, and the result is the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, currently a run-down fleabag in India. Ravi plans to turn it into a home away from home for the elderly of Britain. Soon the building is up and running, and filled with quirky and charming old folks. Expect warmhearted culture clashes, poignant moments and a few deft comic touches. There are many revelations, and crises aplenty, but the book never really manages to rise out of the category of pleasant diversion.
At least I didn't want to punch anyone.
Goodreads win - ARC -
This novel was just what I needed a good laugh, not because I was miserable but the last novel I finished although excellent had very serious undertones. I needed a complete change of pace which this certainly supplied.
Ravi Kapoor a doctor in London is fed up with his somewhat repulsive and difficult father-in-law whom is currently living with him and his wife Pauline. He is living with them as he keeps getting thrown out of old peoples homes! No one wants him and Ravi wishes he was somewhere far away and therefore not his and his wife’s problem. When his cousin Sonny an entrepreneurial business man from Bangalore, India is in London on business he and Ravi come up with what they see as a brilliant plan. They set up a retirement home currently a run down guest house into a home for the more discerning customer. Of course Norman is the first customer to move in when the plans reach realisation and he is joined by the most wonderful cast of characters, other retirees, their grown up children, the staff of both ‘Dunroamin’ and a local call centre where some of the residents make friends with young Indians trying to pretend they live in England! We are gradually told the tales and secrets of the characters in classic Debroah Moggach style; somehow both funny and touching at the same time, the highs and lows of not just retiring to a residential home but one that is abroad.
In fact most of these elderly residents seem to get a new lease of life by making this bold move and one even reads that one of them considers seventy to be the new forty. Now that is something to look forward too! -
Without a doubt, this novel is a member of my top 5 favourite read stories of this year. Where to even begin? Well, you can read the blurb to find out the plot, so i'll refrain from repeating it. This is perhaps one of the best examples since Roy's 'God of Small Things' of the complex Anglo-Indian relationship, post independence. The mix of characters, whilst completely over the top, are a refreshing bunch of fun, quirky, old-school (and inherently racist/ignorant) and Raj yearning individuals. Deborah Moggach allows the reader to form a definite and firm opinion of each character due to the changing shift in language and style used when writing from each perspective. The style of the novel is very "British" in regards to some of the things that happens to the characters and how they react, or in fact, how the reader acts when "witnessing" these calamities. This isn't your conventional story; Moggach makes you laugh in the wrong places, gasp in shock and then smile, and completely refreshes your pallet for future stories. All in all, I cannot recommend this novel enough.
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I am left at a loss for words. I have no good words. I have no bad words. This book was very, very just so. Some of the characters showed promise, but none seemed to live up to that potential.
I've been thinking about what to write for two days and the fact that I came up with nothing says a lot. Doesn't say anything good, but a lot none the less. -
This was a quick and engaging read, in a captivating setting, but it really seemed like it contained far too many missed opportunities to Say Something. I have a sneaking suspicion I'll like the movie better than the novel, which almost never happens.
The book includes a number of closely intertwined story lines about a number of Britishers seeking to spend their final days in a relatively shoddy retirement home in Bangalore, India. There are also some stories revolving around family members and hotel employees, all with messed up lives and dysfunctional relationships. A lucky few of these characters wind their way through the book and end up someplace better, with a possibility of a happily ever after (if only for a couple of years) or a potential to salvage a relationship or lifestyle. But some of the characters have a story line that roughly translates to "life sucks, and then you die." And I wasn't sure what the point was of spinning that tale, except maybe that it was intended to make the book realistic. Not everyone gets a happy ending, after all.
But still, I had to wonder why the author bothered with some of the characters at all. I really liked Dorothy, the clever, retired woman from BBC who had grown up in Bangalore in some of the self-same places where the modern story takes place. But she's rather tragic throughout, and then she connects with her childhood, and then she dies. Huh? (It appears that this character doesn't even make it into the movie, which is probably a wise editing choice).
And Norman? Annoying comic relief, perhaps, but never made happy nor redeemed in his story. Just killed off in a fairly cruel way, really.
So... I had pretty strong mixed reactions to this book. Although I found the characters well-drawn, and I really loved the setting and the premise (and I don't think I had any misconceptions about the subject matter when I embarked: getting old is tough, and moving to a retirement home to end one's days isn't entirely light-hearted, after all), I felt like the story lines were too dangly - and in the end, for some, a little pointless. The book felt a bit like an exercise of getting from Point A to Point A-and-a-half. And I tend to expect a good deal more than that from my books. -
3.5 stars
I finished the book on Friday and last night we watched the film: they couldn't be more different! I enjoyed both though.
Terminé el libro el viernes y anoche vimos la película: son completamente diferentes. Pero los disfruté ambos. -
Having adored the movie, I was motivated to read the book. I was suspicious when I learned the book had been re-titled to match the movie and re-marketed. Perhaps this is a case of a movie promoting a book. The 2 are very different. While the storyline is the same--outsourcing old age, the stories within are quite different.
Being on the threshold of old-age, I understood the thoughts of the characters very well. Aged people from all walks of life, facing declining financial situations, wandering offspring with their own lives and feelings of no longer having value.
This book (and the movie) evoke emotions of a satisfying synthesis of humor and pathos. If there is humor in old people trying to find meaning in what is left of their lives while waiting for the axe to fall.
While the movie deals only with the lives of the old folks, the book brings in the equally complicated emotions of the children. It seems we all, no matter what age, wonder and worry if we have done our best, made a difference or really matter to other human beings. We all long for some meaningful intimate contact with others.
I found the book thought-provoking, if not conversation-provoking. You will have to decide for yourself if it is worth reading or sharing. -
I thoroughly enjoyed this book - as usual, it went much more into each character's personality and back story than the movie did.
I have visited Bangalore on business, but even before that, I have had a foreigner's infatuation with all things Indian. I think the readers who were offended by this book did not realize that the author was trying to portray the events through her elderly characters sonewhat ignorant and bigoted perspectives, not her own, and certainly did not assume the reader would agree with that way of thinking. -
If you read this expecting it to be like the movie, you will find that it is not.
Although I enjoyed the film, it was not this book. Actually I prefer to think that I read These Foolish Things and watched The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel!
The names were not changed but the dynamics of the characters were all flopped around. I thought Norman, although disgusting, was an important focal point in the book.
Since the lives of the book’s characters continue long after the last page, the ending seemed more like a list of “Where are they now?” than a conclusion. As though everyone was tossed into the air and when they landed, they were scattered in a different pattern that still somehow fit. -
Доста приятна книжка, която случайно открих в книжарницата. Корицата е малко too much, дори за индийските стандарти, но все пак нали е важно съдържанието :)
Тази авторка определено пише по-добре от прехваления Бакман, има доста по-богат език и бих прочела нещо друго, може би. Изгледах и филма The best exotic Marigold hotel, който също е приятен, макар да е само бегло базиран върху сюжета. -
2.5 stars rounded up because I do like Deborah Moggach's writing.
This is the book she is best known for (probably because of the film, which I haven't seen but is very popular) but this is my least favourite book by her.
What a shame as I really like the premise...elderly people seeking solace in an Indian hotel/retirement home.
I appreciate the author's blunt and forthright manner, but this felt a bit too caustic here. The characters are either happy/kind or desperate/ghastly. There are no happy mediums; in fact nobody is very happy at all.
There are flashes of humour throughout, but no real warmth. This just made me feel sad in many ways.
I was not looking for a sugar-coated book about old age being all hunky-dory, but I would have liked to see some positive character development and hope for a society that is not just made up of walking clichés who will never change. -
This is one of those rare occasions where the movie is much better than the book. The book is fine, but because I first saw and loved both the movie and it's sequel before reading this, it fell flat for me. I actually had some difficulty telling the characters apart and remembering who was who. I think the movie did a better job at intertwining all of the residents individual stories in a complimentary way.
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The film Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is loosely based on this book, and this is one occasion when the film is much better than the book. The book was ok but not great, and the personal habits of the revolting old man Norman was much more detailed than I really cared for.
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Having seen the film a little while ago, I found that the book (originally entitled These Foolish Things) that it's based upon is somewhat different from the film, except that a group of elderly people decide to go to live in a retirement home in Bangalore, South India.
In the film, the main characters are played by very well-known actors and this helps to differentiate between them. With the book, I had to make notes when I was being introduced to this multitude of characters, so that when they reappeared I could remind myself who they were.
The book is not strong on plot; very little actually happens. The characters fall in or out of love, have good or bad relationships with their children; think about life and death, and the effect their childhood's had on them. This is a book that's mainly about the characters and their relationships, and in fact, almost the first half of the book seems to be taken up with introductions, leaving not too much space for denouements.
This is a multi-viewpoint novel and Deborah Moggach is very skilled at getting inside the heads of her many characters. As someone who has been debating whether or not four or five viewpoints in a novel is too many, I'm impressed by the fact that Deborah Moggach has inhabited 14 or 15 of her characters, and she does this so well that you really feel you know them. It also creates a bond, and enables you to find empathy for even the characters who would probably irritate in real life, notably, Norman, the dirty old man, and possibly Muriel. However, I think there is a problem in that it is difficult to care about quite so many characters. Although the book was very readable, I did begin to wonder, after a while whether we needed yet another character's story; I felt this particularly when Evelyn's son Christopher took the stage, to very little purpose, I thought.
Deborah Moggach writes with plenty of humour and empathy on the subject of retirement and death, though I'm not sure it's a topic I want to be reminded about. Despite the criticism above, it was a good read with a satisfying conclusion and I would probably read more of her writing.
I would probably give it 3.5 stars. -
Wonderfully vivid, it had me laughing in places, and feeling depressed in others but mostly it left me feeling strangely unsettled.
A story about a motley crew of English senior citizens who, for a variety of different reasons, decide to move to India to spend their twilight years in what turns out to be a somewhat dilapidated 'retirement hotel'.
Very depressing in places - the author pulls no punches in painting a bleak picture of what life is like for many of the UK's ageing population and India, though for different reasons, fares little better.
Still, it's not all gloom and doom.
Peopled by a wonderful array of characters who range from the merely eccentric to the totally 'batty', the antics of these pensioners had me quietly chuckling to myself - the antics of the impotent Norman, though ultimately sad, being nothing short of hilarious.
Perhaps a little too realistic in places. I know that realism perhaps dictates that people of these characters generation were not quite as sensitive to those of other races and though it was done in an almost tongue in cheek kind of way and some would argue it was necessary I couldn't help but find the almost casual racism of some of the characters a bit disconcerting.
Be warned The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was previously released as These Foolish Things. -
I saw the trailer for the film version of this book at the cinema a couple of months ago and decided I would like to read the book first. It's not the sort of book I would normally read, so it's thanks to the film that I picked it up.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a story about an eclectic mix of British pensioners moving out to a retirement home in the Indian city of Bangalore. A disenchanted doctor in a busy London hospital, Ravi is encouraged by his brother Sonny to invest money in opening up a retirement home for British pensioners in an old building just off the airport road in Bangalore, India. Ravi's English wife, Pauline is persuaded it's good idea and they do there best to encourage Pauline's widowed Father, Norman to move out there as one of he first guests. We meet the other pensioners, Muriel, Douglas & Jean, Evelyn, Graham, Eithne and Dorothy who take up residence in the Marigold too. What follows is a hilarious heart warming story of cultural differences, new found love, shared experiences and sadness. It made me laugh out loud, gasp and almost shed a tear. A wonderful read! -
An ok light read... and I do enjoy when seniors are included in a novel as individual and vibrant. I did anticipate a funnier, wittier book. But .. the movie was great. Better than the book. (I don't think I've ever said that before. Will I be kicked-off Goodreads?)