The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: The Book

I have a crush on Bill Nighy who plays Douglas in the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
based on the book These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach

After waiting for three months, my name came up on the library reserve list for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (which is really titled These Foolish Things) by Deborah Moggach. The movie (here) was such fun that I immediately put my name on the list for the book and now I have it and am enjoying it very much.

The story is about a group of retirees who leave England and relocate in Bangalore, India at The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a somewhat faded residence left over from the days of the Raj. The individuals have come for various reasons but mostly because of reduced financial circumstances and the state of the health care system in Britain.

The book has pretty much the same characters but there is much more background given on each of them. We learn about grown children, husbands, and careers that weren't covered too much in the movie.  The story takes a clear look at the consequences of aging. Joints pop, hearing grows fuzzy, eyesight wavers, thoughts get confused, vulnerabilities appear. I laugh out loud while nodding my head in recognition of some of the symptoms.

But this is not a somber treatise on growing old. These folks have left the familiar for the very, very exotic and unfamiliar and most face the change with a very British stiff upper lip. Although some of them are not very likable - namely the coarse Norman Purse who is constantly on the lookout for a bit of romance (only that is not what he calls it) - they each have a way of dealing with the upheaval to their lives.

I don't often compare a movie to its book (one usually comes out on the short end of the stick), but there is enough of the book in the movie and the movie in the book to make it an enjoyable experience. Now I find I want to see the movie again.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

I took myself off to the movies this afternoon to see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel starring Judi Dench, Bill Nighy (I do believe I am in love with him), Dame Maggie Smith and some other attractive folks.

Old age is not for sissies and these folks, who are at a later prime of live than some, take off for India from Britain and land at the hotel which is advertised as being for the elderly and the beautiful. They all have their own reasons for taking such a risk and some adapt to the change better than others.

The acting is superb and the scenery is a dizzying kaleidoscope of sights and sounds and colors. A very exotic locale and not to everyone's taste. Especially when they arrive and find that the photos of the hotel in the brochure don't exactly match the reality. But the young man (Dev Patel) who is the owner/manager of the hotel, a former palace, is so charming and so positive and he assures them that all will be well. Some go out to explore the city and some choose to stay within the walls of the crumbling hotel.

There aren't too many surprises in the story, but what fun it is to watch these lovely British actors bring that story to life.

The credits listed the book These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach as the basis for the movie. Random House has now issued a trade paperback under the title of the movie. I just put it on my reserve list and there are 30 people ahead of me.

Here is a bit of wisdom from the movie that the young owner gives to Judi Dench:

"Everything will be all right in the end.  If it isn't all right, then it's not the end."