Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth TaylorMrs. Palfrey arrives at the Claremont Hotel in London, expecting to live out her remaining days. One day, she literally stumbles upon the doorstep of Ludo, a young aspiring writer. She persuades him to pretend to be her grandson, who lives in the city but has never bothered to visit. Gradually, a sweet friendship develops.
Although I enjoyed both, the movie that's based on this story is happier, and I don't know which one I liked better. The novel is more realistic, since no one really ends up happy. Mrs. Palfrey is too polite to be honest with her family about how rude they are, and Ludo's life is still a mess at the end. But their friendship reminds me that we are usually much kinder to strangers than our own family.
No comments:
Post a Comment