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A review by kandicez
What's Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges
5.0
Gilbert Grape lives at home with two of his three sisters, Amy and Ellen, and one of his two brothers, Arnie. Arnie is mentally handicapped and depends on Gilbert a lot. So do his sisters, but Arnie's dependence is draining. Then there's Gilbert's momma. She also lives with them and is poifectly huge. Like hundreds of pounds worth of huge. She was once the prettiest girl in Endora where the Grape family home is located, but now...is not. The whole Grape clan is just counting the days to Arnie's 18th birthday. The birthday the doctors said he would never see.
Poor Gilbert works so hard to keep his family afloat. He's 24 and simply cannot live his own life. His family needs him, his mental support, and, yes, his paycheck, to survive. Gilbert's dad, Mr. Grape, has been dead for 17 years, and with his older brother gone everything falls on Gilbert's shoulders. There's never any time for Gilbert. A few stolen moments here or there, but even they are tinged in guilt and regret.
This book was lovely. Not because it was sweet, or because I loved Gilbert, he could be quite the shit, but I defy anyone to live under the circumstances and burdens Gilbert endured every day and not be one at least occasionally. It was lovely because it was realistic. There is no Mother Theresa among us today. There are just people doing what they can to get by. Doing what has to be done to get their family and loved ones one day closer to happiness. Yes, Gilbert lost patience with Arnie and his sisters on occasion, but he still stayed and cared for his family in the best way he knew how. In a very sad, but real way.
The Grape clan was a bunch of characters, to say the least, and Gilbert's friends and fellow citizens were every bit as quirky, but anyone who has ever lived in a small town knows this is the way people really are. It's the normal people who get out. It's the regular people who leave town to find their dreams and futures. It's as if the real characters are a little larger than the Regular Joes so are caught in the sieve of small-town life. Too big to fall through the screen, but small enough to feel the pinch.
This book touches on the loss of small-town life with the Mom n Pop establishments. The encroachment of Wal-Marts and Krogers on sweet ol' Main Street USA. It shows us that not only the old codgers mourn the loss, but some of the younger generation as well. Gilbert's romance with the new to town Becky is just one more example of the uniqueness of small-town folk. Becky belonged in Endora in the same way Gilbert belongs and for some of the same reasons that Gilbert's older siblings who have left town do not. Small town life takes a certain fortitude and strength. Gilbert has it. Becky may as well. The Grape kids who have left do not.
Poor Gilbert works so hard to keep his family afloat. He's 24 and simply cannot live his own life. His family needs him, his mental support, and, yes, his paycheck, to survive. Gilbert's dad, Mr. Grape, has been dead for 17 years, and with his older brother gone everything falls on Gilbert's shoulders. There's never any time for Gilbert. A few stolen moments here or there, but even they are tinged in guilt and regret.
This book was lovely. Not because it was sweet, or because I loved Gilbert, he could be quite the shit, but I defy anyone to live under the circumstances and burdens Gilbert endured every day and not be one at least occasionally. It was lovely because it was realistic. There is no Mother Theresa among us today. There are just people doing what they can to get by. Doing what has to be done to get their family and loved ones one day closer to happiness. Yes, Gilbert lost patience with Arnie and his sisters on occasion, but he still stayed and cared for his family in the best way he knew how. In a very sad, but real way.
The Grape clan was a bunch of characters, to say the least, and Gilbert's friends and fellow citizens were every bit as quirky, but anyone who has ever lived in a small town knows this is the way people really are. It's the normal people who get out. It's the regular people who leave town to find their dreams and futures. It's as if the real characters are a little larger than the Regular Joes so are caught in the sieve of small-town life. Too big to fall through the screen, but small enough to feel the pinch.
This book touches on the loss of small-town life with the Mom n Pop establishments. The encroachment of Wal-Marts and Krogers on sweet ol' Main Street USA. It shows us that not only the old codgers mourn the loss, but some of the younger generation as well. Gilbert's romance with the new to town Becky is just one more example of the uniqueness of small-town folk. Becky belonged in Endora in the same way Gilbert belongs and for some of the same reasons that Gilbert's older siblings who have left town do not. Small town life takes a certain fortitude and strength. Gilbert has it. Becky may as well. The Grape kids who have left do not.