What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Rating:
Summary: Read the book, skip the movie
Review: A touching "slice of life" book with characters as real as your next door neighbour. Hedges puts the reader into Gilbert's mind, and the honesty of Gilbert's thoughts are hilarious. The movie just doesn't (can't!) give the characters the life that Hedges does. Too bad the title brings to mind the movie for so many...the book is where the magic exists. Read this book! You won't be disappointed

Rating:
Summary: a great book and a great film
Review: after watching the film with leo dicaprio and jonny depp i was very moved ,particularly by the moving performance of dicaprio. Then i read the book which almost brought me to tears. I heavily reccomend this book, it is unpredictable and moving . Ihope you like it as much i did.

Rating:
Summary: What IS Eating Gilbert Grape
Review: Endora, Iowa, there's no such place. There is no place that could be deserted and useless as a place like that. This is a phrase that I suspect many readers think when they read this book. They believe that it's not possible to live and survive in a town as small as Endora. Riding your bike, FOR FUN! No way, bring me the computer and video games. But it's true. Cities like this are very common in Iowa and this book brings out the realities of this small town.
I gave this book 5 stars. The author Peter Hedges does a great job bringing out the story, as well as portraying small town life in Iowa. He takes a dynamic yet weird family and makes it comical. He also ties in love and romance which makes the book attract to all audiences for the duration of the book. Setting it down and taking a break is not an option. This is the story of Gilbert Grape. His heartache and anger are both felt throughout this book. The other main characters in the book are Arnie, his retarded brother and his mother who is so fat the floor is about to cave in beneath her. The story also concerns friendship with his friends Turner and Bobby. Readers beware; this book is so addicting that you can not put this book down.
Do you want comedy, romance, drama? This book has them all. What's Eating Gilbert Grape is a must read for EVERYONE! You won't regret it.

Rating:
Summary: gilbert. gibert grape
Review: great book. you see gilbert grape and his dysfunctional family. he tries to keep them together but he doesn't think he can make it in boring old Endora. This book is hilarious and truely touching. Five stars isn't enough.

Rating:
Summary: If there was a half star to pick, I would have.
Review: I can't say I never wish this book had been written. It is because of this awful piece of literary garbage, that one of the most beautiful films in history was created. Whoever wrote the script gets five stars. The book presents you with no hope at the begining, and leaves you with no hope at the end. The movie, on the other hand, gives you little signs that maybe Gilbert will be ok. People need that sort of thing. What is the point of a story that creats no emotion at all. I wasn't even sad. This Hedges (guy) should work in a library, maybe he will learn a thing or two about good stories.

Rating:
Summary: bumpy and uneven
Review: I did see the movie first, so knew what I was getting into, but not that i would be simultaneously surprised and disappointed. The writing at times was brilliant, but some sentences stuck out like a rotten tooth, disjointed and ugly. I will read his second effort, mainly just curious to see if his writing style has amalgamated from stop-go into a steady stream of shazam.

Rating:
Summary: true to life small-town angst
Review: I enjoyed this book very much. There were quite a few instances where I felt a sudden recognition with something Gilbert was feeling. Tho the movie was fine in its own way, the real treasure is the book itself.

Rating:
Summary: Boy Kicked Out at the World/World Kicked Back a Lot Harder
Review: I first read Peter Hedge's What's Eating Gilbert Grape as a freshman living in Chicagoland's sprawl. Whatever sense it made then, I didn't get it, and the fact brought to mind questions this time around: Do you have to be from Iowa to understand this? Is this is an esoteric small-town novel?

Gilbert Grape is stuck in Endora, Iowa (pop: 1,095 and dwindling). Not only is he stuck, but death, depression, and loneliness surround him. His only friend dreams of working in a Burger Barn; his father commited suicide when he was seven-his second grade teacher, Mrs. Brainer, recently choked on a chicken; and he's having an affair with a woman twice his age. He works year-round at a local mom and pop shop on the verge of closing thanks to the local "Food Mart."

Then there's his family. His sister Ellen, has recently fallen in love with Jesus. His older sister, Amy, still mourns the death of Elvis and his mother, a former beauty queen, has become a manic eater, threatening to crush the floor underneath her bedroom. Finally, his little retard brother, Arnie, is about to turn eighteen. There's no question about Arnie's intelligence: After being left in the bath overnight, he becomes scared of water and refuses to shower. But he's Gilbert's best friend. Maybe only.

Gilbert Grape is trying to escape but lightly. His ties to town and people he mostly dislikes are weak, but hard to pull away from, an incredible, realistic ideal in a novel. He hardly gets up the courage to end a seven-year love affair; he can't let go of Mrs. Brainer's death-the reader finds out why; he can't forgive Lance Dodge, his only classmate to ever leave Endora for success in Des Moines. A new girl, Becky, tries to show him how to let go, but his main focus throughout the book is actually getting prepared for Arnie's birthday party, which his family has long dreamed of.

Along the way, the reader gets to spent some time with the Grapes. That's the brilliance of the book. The Grapes. It's an incredible, emotional, funny, brilliant, knockout story of a family and their problems. A family haunted by ghosts of their paternal influence's suicide. The themes this book touches are ones that anyone can identify with. The scenery doesn't make sense in Chicago, but the thoughts, ideals, and actions do. Trying to change one's life is not a walk in the park, Peter Hedges shows the reader, it's a jog down Highway 13 in the fields of Iowa.

Rating:
Summary: We Need More from Peter Hedges!!!
Review: I have read and re-read this book several times. I think it is one of the most comfortable reads I have ever experienced. All of the characters that you get to know, you want to get to know MORE. I loved the movie, which I think translated well. I have also read Peter Hedges' An Ocean in Iowa which also was brilliant. We simply need more from this talented author.

Rating:
Summary: This Book Is Great!
Review: I read this book in my Comtemporary Literature class. At first, I think it is just like a regular novel that can earn people's tears especially Leo is playing for that retarded kid. However, it is truly moving. The central theme around the Grape family moves into a complicated pattern inside Gilbert's heart. I think this book really brings out the insight in a typical American family. Don't think this is a regular novel for a movie. Well, just want to say it is a great book!