Status
Available
Genres
Publication
New York, N.Y. Poseidon Press 1991
Description
Gilbert Grape is a twenty-four-year-old grocery store clerk stuck in Endora, Iowa, where the population is 1,091 and shrinking. After the suicide of Gilbert's father, his family never fully recovered. Once the town beauty queen, Gilbert's mother is now morbidly obese and planted eternally in front of the TV; his younger sister has recently turned both boy-crazy and God-fearing, while his older sister sacrifices everything for her family. And then there's Arnie, Gilbert's younger brother with special needs. With no one else to care for Arnie, Gilbert becomes his brother's main parent, and all four siblings must tend to the needs of their helpless, grieving mother. So Gilbert is in a rut-until a mysterious new girl named Becky arrives in this small town. As his family gathers for Arnie's eighteenth birthday, Gilbert finds himself at a crossroads.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Schmerguls
5717. What's Eating Gilbert Grape, by Peter Hedges (read 9 Nov 2020) I read this book because the author was born in Iowa and I tend to read Iowa authors when I learn of them. This 1991 work of fiction tells of a weird family which lives in the fictional town of Endora, Iowa. The mother of the
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children is a widow (the father hung himself) who eats and has grown from a beauty as a young woman into a grossly fat woman who eats as much as the four children who live with her do combined. Gilbert Grape is the 24-year-old son who is the narrator of the book and works in a grocery store and has an adulterous relationship with a woman who taught him in school. There is a retarded 17-year-old son who is constant source of grief for the family but much beloved nevertheless. The two oldest children live away from home but support their mother's huge food and smoking life by monthly checks. I could not admire any character in the story and thus was not really taken up by the story. I prefer at least one admirable character in a story. Show Less
LibraryThing member realsupergirl
This is a fabulous book. Even better than the movie, which was also quite good. Hedges has a unique and interesting literary voice.
LibraryThing member workgman
if you sat down to read this when it came out & did not read it straight through, then you are just not human.
LibraryThing member donkeytiara
...i was gutted when i finished this book and couldn't read it again for the first time...even if you've seen the movie, read the book. I wish these people were in my life, as dysfunctional as they all were. A very good-hearted book.
LibraryThing member kblume26
The movie does not even begin to do this book justice. It simplified characters that, on the page, are so complex they could not be transferred properly to the screen. I have lent out this book dozens of times, both to fans of the movie and to people who had never seen it before, and I have never
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once gotten it back with a dissatisfied customer. Show Less
LibraryThing member EverydayMiracles
Warning: What's Eating Gilbert Grape is on my favorites list. My review may be considered slightly skewed by my love for this book. Consider yourself warned.
I read What's Eating Gilbert Grape, by Peter Hedges, when I was fifteen years old and the movie had recently been released. Because I'm just
I loved this book right from the outset. During the period of my life when I first read What's Eating Gilbert Grape I was in love with first person narrative, and Gilbert is an excellent narrator! He has a unique perspective on life and on his off-the-wall family, from his morbidly obese mother (who is caving the floor in), to portly Amy and sixteen year-old boy-crazy Ellen: and of course, who can forget retarded Arnie, who is eighteen but wasn't supposed to live past ten?
"I just wanna see my boy turn eighteen. Is that too much to ask?" Gilbert's mother repeats these words like a mantra, driving Gilbert to distraction. All he wants is to get out of his small Iowa town and move up in the world, but he stays at home, helping to hold the last parts of his family together.
This is a book about families and relationships, about the importance of loving one another and of holding onto the things that really matter. It's a realistic look at small-town life. What's Eating Gilbert Grape is a very touching and enduring book. Of all the books I've ever read, none has stayed with me the way that Peter Hedge's debut novel has.
I believe that you will love this book.
I read What's Eating Gilbert Grape, by Peter Hedges, when I was fifteen years old and the movie had recently been released. Because I'm just
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that kind of person, I wanted to read the book first and then see what the movie was like. Being a huge fan of both Johnny Depp and Leonardo Dicaprio, I knew that I had to see the movie (and would ultimately be disappointed by it) so the book simply had to come first.I loved this book right from the outset. During the period of my life when I first read What's Eating Gilbert Grape I was in love with first person narrative, and Gilbert is an excellent narrator! He has a unique perspective on life and on his off-the-wall family, from his morbidly obese mother (who is caving the floor in), to portly Amy and sixteen year-old boy-crazy Ellen: and of course, who can forget retarded Arnie, who is eighteen but wasn't supposed to live past ten?
"I just wanna see my boy turn eighteen. Is that too much to ask?" Gilbert's mother repeats these words like a mantra, driving Gilbert to distraction. All he wants is to get out of his small Iowa town and move up in the world, but he stays at home, helping to hold the last parts of his family together.
This is a book about families and relationships, about the importance of loving one another and of holding onto the things that really matter. It's a realistic look at small-town life. What's Eating Gilbert Grape is a very touching and enduring book. Of all the books I've ever read, none has stayed with me the way that Peter Hedge's debut novel has.
I believe that you will love this book.
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LibraryThing member addunn3
Gilbert is 24, living in a dying middle-america town with a huge nearly-immobile mother as well as a depressing array of family members and friends around him. A fascinating story of Gilbert coming to terms with his life.
LibraryThing member starbox
The eponymous narrator is a young grocery clerk in a dead-end town in Iowa. A member of a dysfunctional family, headed by morbidly obese Momma, who never leaves the house (where the floors are collapsing), and spends her days in a dreamy world of endless TV and junk food. Here too are sad, dutiful
I came to this having never seen the movie. It's an OK read, presumably aimed at the YA reader. And it's a brilliant book top read if, like me, you're trying to diet...the food and Momma will make you follow your regime religiously! Not bad, but not great.
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elder sister, Amy, precocious teenage Ellen and the lumbering, mentally deficient Arnie. All affected by the suicide of their father, all in thrall to endless calorie-laden food (which punctuates every chapter). Gilbert dreams of escape...I came to this having never seen the movie. It's an OK read, presumably aimed at the YA reader. And it's a brilliant book top read if, like me, you're trying to diet...the food and Momma will make you follow your regime religiously! Not bad, but not great.
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LibraryThing member gpangel
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges is a 1991 Simon & Schuster publication.
This is one of those books that has now made it into the ‘classics’ category- but I’ve heard more about the movie adaptation than the novel. When I saw the book in the KU program, I decided to check it out
Well, I must tell you, I didn’t get what everyone else saw in this book. By the time I got to that ghastly conclusion, I knew I’d never watch the movie. I couldn’t get this one in the rearview mirror fast enough- and I’d rather just keep Gilbert Grape as a distant memory instead of tormenting myself with the visual saga of this dysfunctional family on steroids- great acting or no.
Overall, I can’t say the book was a disappointment or letdown because I only read it out of curiosity. That said, I struggled with it from the get-go and was tempted to throw in the towel on numerous occasions. I finished it- but was left scratching my head- wondering what on earth it was about this book that captivated so many people.
I could go into the cons of the story- but I don’t think I’ll spend that much of my time on a book I didn't like. You know it’s bad when I’m willing to take the abuse for my one star review.
1 sta
This is one of those books that has now made it into the ‘classics’ category- but I’ve heard more about the movie adaptation than the novel. When I saw the book in the KU program, I decided to check it out
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on a whim and then, after I read it, I planned on watching the movie -which I found on one of my streaming services. Well, I must tell you, I didn’t get what everyone else saw in this book. By the time I got to that ghastly conclusion, I knew I’d never watch the movie. I couldn’t get this one in the rearview mirror fast enough- and I’d rather just keep Gilbert Grape as a distant memory instead of tormenting myself with the visual saga of this dysfunctional family on steroids- great acting or no.
Overall, I can’t say the book was a disappointment or letdown because I only read it out of curiosity. That said, I struggled with it from the get-go and was tempted to throw in the towel on numerous occasions. I finished it- but was left scratching my head- wondering what on earth it was about this book that captivated so many people.
I could go into the cons of the story- but I don’t think I’ll spend that much of my time on a book I didn't like. You know it’s bad when I’m willing to take the abuse for my one star review.
1 sta
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