I wasn’t aware that this was being made into a movie, but that explains why the hold list for it was so long. I was initially predisposed to roll my eyes at this book, since the “curmudgeon learns to love life because of his wacky neighbors” premise was so obvious right off the bat… but the execution was phenomenal, revelations and subtle growth and character background dropped gracefully into the text, until a whole picture is painted around you and you find yourself rooting hard for the characters in their fight against unfairness and an uncaring bureaucracy. Very sweet read.