Then She Found Me

From the book:

April Epner teaches high school Latin, wears flannel jumpers, and is used to having her evenings free. Bernice Graverman brandishes designer labels, favors toad-size earrings, and hosts her own tacky TV talk show: Bernice G!

But behind the glitz and glam, Bernice has followed the life of the daughter she gave up for adoption thirty-six years ago. Now she’s ready to be Mother of the Year- and she’s hurtling straight towards April’s quiet little life.

My two cents worth:

I read this book sometime last August and wrote a short review on the book on my Living Social network. My thoughts on the book then:

“I love the contrast of characters in this book. April is so unlike her birth mother, Bernice. Her frustration with Bernice who is from a different world altogether is understandable and laughable. I was also surprised by Dwight’s character and found him to be witty and quite romantic in a mature, straightforward kinda way, far from how he was first introduced in the book. If you love a book that revolves around the theme based on growing relationships, then this would be one book to read. It is definitely a light read and has its funny moments.

I have yet to catch the movie but I truly believe that Bette Midler and Helen Hunt would be able to carry the character from the book to perfection”

The movie:

It’s a public holiday here in Malaysia today so I finally managed to catch the movie version of Then She Found Me.

The movie version’s storyline is so much different from the book. Instead of April being a single, lonesome thirty something who opens up to love and relationship, you find her at the beginning of the movie as a newly wedded wife who is dumped by her boyish husband (played by Matthew Broderick). April is still the simpleton school teacher in the movie and Bernice the celebrity hosting her own morning show. Bette Midler’s character did not have as strong a presence as she did in the book but yet she carried Bernice’s role up to my expectations- absolutely fabulous (I’m biased, I love Bette Midler. They also played down Bernice’s character as the attention crazy mother)

After her husband’s departure, April falls head over heels with Colin Firth, a single parent who sends his son to the school April teaches. Colin Firth was funny and I found him absolutely sexy playing the role of the heart-broken, responsible single father.

The movie version was good. It was funny and romantic and despite the storyline being different from the book, it was still engaging.

Ps. I’d just like to add that Helen Hunt looks like she’s really aged in this movie. I haven’t seen her in any other movie for quite a while and her appearance shocked me a bit. How old is she anyway?

Verdict: Sorry Elinor. I love the movie more than the book.