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Book Review of What's Eating Gilbert Grape

What's Eating Gilbert Grape
scrapbooklady avatar reviewed on + 472 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4


The movie was good but as usual, it did not touch the sheer genius of the novel on which it was based. Peter Hedges knows just how to portray small town life in its tragicomic abundance. The story is completely honest. Nothing is held back. It's part love story, part life story, and really delves deep into the emptiness of Gilbert trying to find himself in the small void known as Endora, Iowa. Gilbert Grape lives with his morbidly obese mother, retarded brother, and his two sisters: one a spinster, the other an obnoxious prepubescent teen. He works as a bagger at a local market and is having an affair with a woman twice his age. The entire story is based around the upcoming 18th birthday of his "retarded" brother that no one thought would live past the age of 10. With these characters and then some, Peter Hedges has created the most tantalizing story about small town American life and how it can be survived...Highly and strongly recommended!