Has anyone read the book?


If you have, can you tell me a little more about the characters? Also, do you think this will be a good movie?

I feel the need, the need for expeditious velocity!

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YES! I have read the book and own 4 copies to loan to friends and family. I strongly recommend that you read the book. NOW! It is expertly written. Mr. Kiraly has created characters that take you from page to page effortlessly and I laughed so hard sometimes I couldn’t read straight. The book is a gem. I hope the movie will do it justice.

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The book is filled with quirky situational comedy. Not sure how that will play out in a movie, but they certainly have two of the best at quirky comedy in Broderick and Alda. You never know after filming and editing how it will be presented on film but I'm hoping for a good one.

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Yes, and it's a great story that held special importance for me. Allow me to bore you for a few minutes.

I ran across a copy purely by chance in 1995, when it first came out. I worked at my hometown newspaper in Missouri, and the book actually came to the sportswriter because of its baseball card theme. He wasn't much of a reader, and I was, so it ended up on my desk.

So I began the story of Booker, Uncle Rollie and all the rest. I wasn't 60 pages in before I realized that LaPorte, Mo., wasn't LaPorte after all. It was LaGrange, a tiny town just down the Mississippi River from the college my wife and I attended, Culver-Stockton College. There were even references to Canton, where the college is located, and Quincy, Ill., right across the river.

Anyway, we watched the movie tonight and I quite enjoyed it. It had been altered a little, updated a little, though I believe Sherwood Kiraly had a hand in writing the screenplay so it's pretty true to the written word. It's a kind of quiet, sweet movie, with some comedy and even a little slapstick. The quieter moments made me think of "The Station Agent"--maybe because Bobby Cannavale was in that, too--and the climax had a little bit of a zany farce thing going on. I'd recommend it for anyone who doesn't require explosions or torture every other scene.

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