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The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

by Deborah Moggach (Goodreads Author)

3.36 of 5 stars 3.36 · rating details · 3,430 ratings · 799 reviews

Now a major motion picture starring Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel, Tom Wilkinson, Judi Dench, Penelope Wilton and Celia Imrie.

When Ravi Kapoor, an over-worked London doctor, is driven beyond endurance by his obnoxious father-in-law, he asks his wife: 'Can't we just send him away somewhere? Somewhere far, far away.' His prayer seems to have been answered when his ent...more

Paperback, 304 pages

Published February 16th 2012 by Vintage (first published January 1st 2004)

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Jul 04, 2012 Cass rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, books-i-own-ebook, out-of-my-comfort-zone

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 agai...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Angie Palau rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 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...more 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.(less)

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Oct 13, 2009 LindyLouMac rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 fa...more

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Jun 23, 2009 Suzanne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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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Jan 05, 2013 Bettie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: tbr-busting-2013, winter-20122013, film-only, those-autumn-years

Judi Dench ... Evelyn Greenslade
Tom Wilkinson ... Graham Dashwood
Patrick Pearson ... Graham's Colleague
Hugh Dickson ... Judge
James Rawlings ... Estate Agent
Bill Nighy ... Douglas Ainslie
Penelope Wilton ... Jean Ainslie
Maggie Smith ... Muriel Donnelly
Liza Tarbuck* ... Staff Nurse
Paul Bhattacharjee ... Dr. Ghujarapartidar

* Is that Jimmy Tarbuck's daughter??

Jaipur

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Oct 14, 2012 Caren rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult-fiction

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...more 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. (less)

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Nov 07, 2012 Almeta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: flick-lit, grsauthorization, reviewed

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. (view spoiler)...more

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Mar 22, 2013 Mandy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Frustrated with his obnoxious father-in-law inhabiting his London home, Indian-born doctor Ravi Kapoor and his cousin Sonny come up with an idea to create a hotel for English “pensioners” to live out their lives in the exotic land of India. After negotiating with local contacts in Banagalore, the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is open for business and welcomes its many new residents. Among them are Evelyn Greenslade, a lonely widow with difficult relationships with her children; Muriel Donnelly, the...more

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Aug 06, 2011 Jayne Charles rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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...more

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Nov 20, 2009 marissa rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: clueless people interested in an exoticized India through the eyes of white racists

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 t...more 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.(less)

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Jan 20, 2008 Ali rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Linda

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 -...more

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Jun 05, 2012 Helen Stanton rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A bit of light relief after Life and Fate.........

A light, entertaining read....with some very amusing observations, particularly if you are a woman of ' un certain age', which unfortunately I am...... 3.5 stars more accurate.

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Feb 04, 2013 Whitney rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I loved the movie and will see it again. The book however, is a very different tone than the movie. In the movie, most of the characters aren't on death's door, but are at that difficult stage as to what to do with your last years of good health, particularly if you've fallen on hard times. The book deals more with the loneliness of advanced aging, and what it's like to lose your health and watch those younger than you begin to treat you differently.

Whether you read the book or not, definitely d...more

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Mar 18, 2013 Julia rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have not seen the film which was made from this book and which prompted the title change from the original (and boringly generic) These Foolish Things. However I very much enjoyed this gently charming story which is in parts very sad and in other parts quite hilarious.

The story is about a very anglicised Indian doctor working in the UK who is being driven mad by his boorish father-in-law. He hatches a plan with his Indian-based cousin to establish a rest home for the elderly English in Bangalo...more

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Mar 04, 2013 Lee Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

After seeing the film, Deborah Moggach's The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was not quite the light-hearted read I expected. It could just be where I am in my own life (mid-30s, single, worried about the future), or maybe it is actually one of Moggach's themes that became more apparent as I read the book.

Regardless, I enjoyed this read as much as I enjoyed the movie. It's probably not obvious, but I really liked both (hence, the four Goodreads stars). Although, come to think of it, I am annoyed tha...more

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Feb 21, 2013 Kristin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

A light and entertaining book about elderly pensioners in England being uprooted to a new retirement home/"hotel" in India. Moggach is witty and writes with excellent character voice. There are several stories being told at the same time and in a serendipitous way which is endearing but slightly confusing at times since some name drops aren't clearly explained as to whether they belong to both stories or just coincidentally have the same name.

Some of the characters are offensive and most are ra...more

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Feb 16, 2013 Jacquelynn Luben rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Having seen the film a little while ago, I found that the book (originally entitled These Foolish Things) that it's based upon film 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...more Having seen the film a little while ago, I found that the book (originally entitled These Foolish Things) that it's based upon film 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, notable, 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.
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Nov 27, 2012 Nancy McKibben rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: those who like British humor

Shelves: reviewed

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach

I was familiar with the title only because of the movie (and in fact, the original title from 2004 was These Foolish Things), so I was a bit surprised to find that the hotel of the title is, in fact, more in the way of a retirement home, located in Bangalore, India. The characters who end up there, all British citizens in their 70s and older, are alone in the world, or may as well be, as they are in varying degrees of estrangement from their child...more The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach

I was familiar with the title only because of the movie (and in fact, the original title from 2004 was These Foolish Things), so I was a bit surprised to find that the hotel of the title is, in fact, more in the way of a retirement home, located in Bangalore, India. The characters who end up there, all British citizens in their 70s and older, are alone in the world, or may as well be, as they are in varying degrees of estrangement from their children, some of whom are appalled at the thought of their parents spending their twilight years abroad, and some of whom cannot wait to push their aging parents from the nest.

Although this could be a depressing read, the novel is redeemed by its humor. Here is a description of the reprobate Norman, as seen by his son-in-law (who is Indian):

“Barely a week had passed and already Ravi wanted to murder his father-in-law. Norman was a retired structural engineer, a monumental bore, and a man of repulsive habits. . . His amorous anecdotes, like a loop of Muzak, reappeared with monotonous regularity. Already Ravi had heard, twice this week, the one about catching the clap in Bulawayo.”

It is Ravi whose concept it is to send aging parents to India, and his cousin Sonny, who lives in Bangalore, partners with him to turn the dilapidated Marigold Hotel into a home for the elderly. A shabby, charming habitat, the hotel is at once a last bastion for a vanished era of colonial British life, and a means of introducing its inhabitants to real Indians.

The various retirees - a BBC journalist, a vague pensioner, an ageing femme fatale, and a number of others - form relationships with other and with their Indian hosts.The author skillfully balances her narrative between the hope offered by these new relationships and the melancholy of death and aging.

If you were less than charmed by the film, whose plot and theme veer wildly from the original, please give the book a chance. As so often happens, it is ten times better than the movie it inspired.
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Oct 20, 2012 Danny rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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....more

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Sep 11, 2012 Asha Rajan rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I started reading this before watching the film and finished it after. Apart from a few character names and a general mashing together of sub-plots, the book and film were quite separate entities.

There were deeply sad tales of the diminishing lives of the various characters.The story brings together disparate characters as their lives intersect in old age. Some of the intersections seemed a little too contrived, but there were no Hollywood endings to be seen.

While the film is funny, poignant and...more

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Aug 28, 2012 Tjode rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nook-books-library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 20, 2012 Melissa rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Maggoch does a good job of creating older characters and illustrating the challenges of growing older in a world that is obsessed with the young and being young. There were many times while reading that it dawned on me my mother (and my husband’s parents) probably had many of the same opinions and thoughts about us as the characters in the book do about their children. It was unsettling but also illuminating. It is easy to get wrapped up in our own lives and the lives of our children and to thin...more Maggoch does a good job of creating older characters and illustrating the challenges of growing older in a world that is obsessed with the young and being young. There were many times while reading that it dawned on me my mother (and my husband’s parents) probably had many of the same opinions and thoughts about us as the characters in the book do about their children. It was unsettling but also illuminating. It is easy to get wrapped up in our own lives and the lives of our children and to think of our parents as tertiary participants. We want to value their opinion and sometimes we do. Other times, the idea that sprang to life as a teenager and that diminished as we had our own children, that we know more than they do, comes raging back. After all, our parents don’t have the challenges of raising kids that we do. It is “different now.”* Maybe, but chances are we will have the same feelings of dispensibility Moggach’s character’s have.

*I say, tongue planted firmly in cheek.

While it was interesting to read a book centered on a demographic not my own, there were too many other problems with Maggoch’s book for me to give it higher praise than the above. She gives short shrift to the most interesting character she creates and inserts a sub-plot centering on two adult children of different hotel residents that is contrived in the extreme. That these two younger strangers would chance to meet in a country the size of India, fall into bed immediately and…what? I can’t even remember what happened to them. Moggach also feels it necessary to insert a late in life romance but doesn’t bother to really develop the relationship. With the ease of creating characters that are widowed why she would make one of these characters married, to a shrew of course, is beyond me. Having a 70 something man leave his wife because he discovers after 40-50 years of marriage he didn’t like her much is revolting. Is that true to life? Probably. It is still horrible and not what I would expect from a character I am supposed to sympathize with. Why would I want that character to find happiness with anyone else? (I guess at least he didn’t marry a 20-year-old.) It is as if Maggoch liked these two characters a lot and decided to hook them up at the last-minute. Unfortunately, none of the resolutions are satisfying enough to make me want to recommend the book.

Full review: http://wp.me/pns82-14Q (less)

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Jul 27, 2012 Lisa Perkins rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

3.5 I enjoyed the movie and the book. The good news is the paper version is sufficiently different to the screenplay that you don’t feel like they’re reinventing the wheel.

The basis of the story is the same; a group of seventy-somethings who leave the UK to spend their twilight years at the ultimate retirement home – the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in Bangalore, Southern India. This overseas retreat might not quite live up to the guests expectations, but as their tales unfold and begin to intert...more

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Jul 15, 2012 Melissa rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ok. I loved the movie. Seriously it was the best movie I've seen in ages. I thought, well, maybe I'll read the book. I read an excerpt and it bore no relation to the movie I had seen. I should have stopped there. I purchased the e-book. The movie was wonderful. The book wasn't. Oh, it was well written, but the characters that I loved in the movie were barely present to totally absent in the book. The ones that did double up were 90-100% different. It was jarring. The story was about 25% the same...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Joanne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I saw the movie, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and absolutely loved it. This was a movie that showed older people as interesting humans, even though they were sent away to a retirement home. It was funny and touching and so is the book. It is very strange for me to read a book after I saw the movie but I chose to read it for two reasons: I wanted to compare the movie and the book; and probably the main reason, it was available at the library for my Nook which is not the case for many of the bo...more

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Jun 10, 2012 Dale rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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, wanderin...more

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Nov 06, 2012 Marianne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

These Foolish Things (also published under the title The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) is the fifteenth novel by British novelist Deborah Moggach. When Londoner Dr Ravi Kapoor complains to his Bangalore cousin Sunil Rahim about his English father-in-law, Norman’s unwelcome presence in his Dulwich home, Sunny hits upon a brilliant business idea. Together, they establish a retirement home with a difference, for British pensioners: location, Bangalore, India. They tidy up the Dunroamin Guest House, c...more

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Aug 09, 2012 Annie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don't usually write reviews, as I find that one either has enjoyed a book, or one hasn't, and the reasons for either are too difficult and subjective to describe properly, but this book spoke to me, and I've seen too much negativity surrounding it to not add my positive two pence worth.

What I found startling as I was reading the book was the fact that I could understand - and at times share - some of the fears and frustrations of the elderly characters. I could be their granddaughter. My grand...more I don't usually write reviews, as I find that one either has enjoyed a book, or one hasn't, and the reasons for either are too difficult and subjective to describe properly, but this book spoke to me, and I've seen too much negativity surrounding it to not add my positive two pence worth.

What I found startling as I was reading the book was the fact that I could understand - and at times share - some of the fears and frustrations of the elderly characters. I could be their granddaughter. My grandfather is their age. And yet, I identified with them, not with their children, or doctors, or nurses, or any of the younger characters. I'd say it's because the author wrote them in a sympathetic sort of way, but that isn't it, for I've always been nostalgic for a past I know lives only in my head, a past I know about from books and movies and stories my grandparents told me of how things were back in their youth.

I've heard the book (and its characters) categorised as racist. I wouldn't say that. I'd just say they were afraid of the unknown, of the unfamiliar, and thought themselves too old to understand or learn anything new. I understood Muriel, trying to navigate (literally and figuratively) a world that has changed and left her behind, a world where she became the minority (in London, even), where she didn't understand the language, the concepts, the behaviour, and all that came across in the translation was the violence and the "otherness" of the people around her.

Back in the days when these people were young, distinctions were of class, not race, or nationality. At least, where they lived. And yet, here, in the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, class is overcome. We see middle class people mingling with housewives and intellectuals and cockneys and Scots from up North and the distinctions blur, because nowadays it's their common heritage and memories of Peggy Lee and Al Jolson and that sentiment of not being needed by those they loved and cherished their whole lives that bring them together, lump them in a sort of class of their own, and whatever divided them before is erased.

Yet, these people are not bigoted. They're clearly "victims" (if one can say that) of their upbringing and their incapacity to understand and fit into the modern world (which, by the by, has no use for them anyway), but they're neither stupid, nor uncaring. I've read them being called "arrogant" or "racist" even when they reach out to those socially below them. I don't think they were, I rather think they reached out in the only way they knew how. They reacted in ways they were conditioned to react, while still retaining a capacity for learning out of their experiences. They are, at best, misguided, but never malicious, toward the Indians and their culture.

Even in their complaining, there's a certain nostalgia for what they've left behind, both in years, and in miles. India is not London. India is certainly not the London (or England) of their youth. A friend of mine, American, used to complain all the time after he moved to Eastern Europe. About how nothing worked, about the corruption, about how, basically, he had been uprooted and moved somewhere else where he didn't always understand the rules. He wasn't a "racist", and neither were these characters. They were simply trying to cope with the new, while, at the same time, they lived in the past stuck in a sort of time-bubble on their verandah, playing bridge and eating dinners and filling in crossword puzzles.

Another thing I found interesting was how we seem to have been conditioned to start feeling old as our bodies grow older. They were old, by our standards, but they needn't have died before their bodies did, yet, society more or less expected them to. To retire, to go quietly in to that dark night, disappear. It was David Mitchell in "Cloud Atlas" who said "the world will do business with dictators, perverts, and drug barons of all stripes, but being slowed down it cannot abide. Our second offence is being everyman's memento mori. The world can only get comfy in shiny-eyed denial if we are out of sight." And how right he seems to be, especially when placed in contrast with the Indians, to whom taking care of their parents and family (however obnoxious they might be) is a sacred duty.

Yet, these characters, these people, are alive! They still have dreams and hopes and disappointments, and in the case of Madge and Evelyn and Douglas can fall in and out of love, just like "young" people do. Perhaps more soberly, for life has thought them a thing or two.

I think this passage, quoted from the book itself, sums up what I saw in it rather nicely: "Their memories are of a world that is already history: a world where children were seen but not heard, where men looked after women. Where women cared for men. The witnesses to this world are disappearing one by one." I think the book should be viewed in the light of their morals, their values, not our own modern and often over sensitive political correctness, in order to be enjoyed.(less)

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Jan 12, 2013 Andrew rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

How to sum up The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel...
Firstly, I have not seen the film, so I had no expectations based on that, although the edition that I own is the tie in with the movie.
There are a lot of characters, and they are introduced in a way that is not all that skill full. In fact three are so many that, once I was into the book, when a chapter that concentrated on one character ended and the next started, I would often have to think about who that was and what their backstory was.
All o...more

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Aug 15, 2012 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ok, here I go again, trying to enjoy reading a book on my Kindle :/
....

This time, I did enjoy reading the book on my Kindle...but it is still too heavy to hold up in the air while I am reclining :/

I enjoyed this novel, but I guess I was expecting it to be more like the movie than it is. The movie producers changed the characters... I believe the names were the same, although quite a few more people were added. The movie also had the hotel run by the youngest son in the family business - quite a...more

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Did anyone else prefer the movie over the book?	15	82	Mar 17, 2013 06:58am
You'll love this ...: November 2012 - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggarch	47	80	Dec 02, 2012 09:50pm

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About Deborah Moggach

Deborah Moggach is a British writer, born Deborah Hough on 28 June 1948. She has written fifteen novels to date, including The Ex-Wives, Tulip Fever, and, most recently, These Foolish Things. She has adapted many of her novels as TV dramas and has also written several film scripts, including the BAFTA-nominated screenplay for Pride & Prejudice. She has also written two collections of short sto...more

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