karla@drutx.UUCP (RikansrudKB) (03/15/85)
Answer to some of those Garp questions. To answer your last question first, yes, read the book. As usual, a lot more detail is presented in the book than is possible on the screen. Reading the book allows you to pick up on several of the less obvious movie happenings. (For example, do you know what *really* happened to the wife's lover? I don't think this was as explicit in the movie. It was clearly described in the book.) Garp and his wife had an old Volvo. About a '64 or so (the tear-drop shape). The book makes a point of detailing how it was the wife's responsibility to take care of the car, and Garp's to take care of the kids. At one point in the book, he mentions how she should really get the gear shift fixed. The ball on top of the shifter was missing and he said someone could get his eye poked out. (Obviously, written art has several definite advantages over visual art when it comes to forshadowing and other tools.) I don't remember specifically about the curve, slope, and direction of the driveway, (wasn't the kid in the back seat leaning forward between the two front seats instead of sitting down?) but again, read the book. Anyway, don't you think a kid could receive a pretty good concussion (which could lead to death) by being flung into a windshield? I think so. A Garp and John Irving fan, -Karla