I actually preferred the book. The movie only had so much time that they didn't quite explore the nuances in terms of the racism and politics between the different types of Chinese/Asians.

Also, Peik Lin's family's conversations were watered down hard. I enjoyed it so much with all the Hokkien weaving in, as it should be. But of course there's none of that in the movie besides the one time Ken Jeong saying "Chia chia".

Also, it grated me so hard that they got an actress with a northern Chinese accent to play the role of Amah. There was no way she would have that accent if she's indeed several generations since migrating from China to Singapore and likely originally a Hokkien speaker.

The movie was catering towards an Asian American audience but the book wasn't and I just felt a lot of the details were completely lost in the movie. Also, a lot of the character developments had to be squashed down. Like Astrid's story. Bit of a shame.