Eleanor Young and Rachel Chu first meeting

Unlike the film, Eleanor Young did not spare her time to meet  her future-daughter-in-law. In fact, she was one of the last few people to give Rachel a cold welcome to Singapore. Eleanor spent a couple of days in China with a private investigator to dig up dirt on Rachel’s family background and use as ammunition afterwards.

 Nick’s father’s (Philip Young) impression of Rachel Chu

In the book, Philip Young is a laid-back engineer father of Nick who occasionally visits Sydney, Australia. The director not only disregarded the distinguishable and easy-going character, but also the fact that Philip, unlike most of the Youngs, approved of Rachel’s relationship with Nick.

Michael Teo’s affair

This is probably the most frustrating deviation from the book. The film displayed Michael as a negligent cheating husband and father who, without interior motive and only driven by sexual aims, had an affair and cheated on his wife, Astrid Leong/Teo.

The truth is, Michael was miserable and tired of living underneath Astrid’s dark and cold shadow. The drawback of being the husband of Asia’s most fashionable women made him lead Astrid into thinking he had an affair. Michael only faked all his texts written by his cousin, expensive dinner receipts, and distant behavior in hopes of cutting ties with Astrid and her elite family.

Well, that is still not enough reason to forgive Michael Teo, but at least he didn’t mean that much harm.

The Proposal

What’s a romantic comedy film without the cheesy and forbidden proposal?

The novel narrated it as Rachel and Nick taking an intimate vacation away from his family. Nick, the handsome and gentleman boy he is, drove his girlfriend from Singapore to Cameron Highlands, in Malaysia. He intended to propose to her there, but was interrupted by Eleanor and his Ah Ma’s nasty revelation of truth about Rachel’s father.

However, in the screen, there was no romantic getaway and Rachel’s family background is more vague and fast pace than ever. Before the audience can take in Eleanor’s bomb, scenes were shifting too fast for the majority of the non-bookreaders to follow.

Rachel Chu plans to go to Singapore during summer break, not spring

In the novel, it took Nick a lot of persuading to let Rachel meet his family all the way from New York to Singapore. Since summer breaks are longer than spring breaks, Nick also planned a solid tour around Asia.

The GOH family never heard of the Youngs

Unlike most families from the book, the Youngs preferred to keep their wealth private. Only the most traditional relatives and friends within their community have heard of them. This is why Peik Lin couldn’t put a face on a ‘Nicholas Young’ before they met, she as someone who gained wealth after the Youngs.

Astrid’s ex-fiancé, Charlie Wu, had a bigger part to play

Prior to marrying Michael, Astrid fell in love and nearly married Charlie Wu. Their relationship ended in a spectacle and both decided to see other people. During Araminta and Collin’s wedding reception, it turned out that both of them were having problems with their current relationships. Charlie, whose intentions were to make Astrid happy and found Michael’s affair peculiar, planned a tour around Hong Kong. Charlie’s eagerness to find out the real truth was the reason Astrid and Michael worked their way into becoming civilized in the end.

The ending

The saddest revelation: Eleanor still hasn’t approved of Nick’s relationship with Rachel and Nick doesn’t propose on the plane. The dynamic couple took their fair share of ups and downs and decided to take things slow and carry on touring Singapore along with Peik Lin and Rachels’ mom. Rachel has yet to fight for another battle against the Youngs.

Do you prefer the movie or the book? Tell us below!