I just read the book - I’m toying with the idea of seeing the movie - any thoughts on that would be good too - I hate reading the book and then finding the movie a huge dissapointment.
So, anyhoo, about Melony. Irving describes Melony throughout the book as being a very large girl. However, evenutally it’s revealed that when she dated Homer she was 5’8", 160 lbs. That doesn’t seem particularly large to me - about a size 10 or 12 - am I the only one who thought that was odd?
Does Irving have no idea about women’s sizes and weights (possible), or does the majority think that a 5’8", 160 lb woman is particularly large and intimidating?
Well, if she was 5’8" throughout the story, she’d be a very large intimidating girl, especially for a young boy. As an adult, that’s not large at all.
Having read the book and then seen the movie shortly thereafter, I was very disappointed. VERY disappointed. I didn’t think the movie was worth any of the Oscar nominations it received.
I had forgotten about that, but when I read your post I remembered that as odd, too. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that John Irving is pretty short? He isn’t small, though. Hmm…his background is in wrestling. Is that a pretty big weight for a wrestler of that height? Just a thought.
Since Melony was much larger than Homer when they were young, I think she remained so in his memory (both physically and in personality). I think that is what Irving was trying to convey.
I liked the movie. I didn’t love it, but I almost always hate movies made from books I cherish. Cider House may well be my favorite American novel so I was leery of seeing it. I didn’t think much of the actor that played Homer, but the rest of the cast was excellent, IMHO.
Well, I got that bit - Melony was bigger than Homer.
However, even the reactions of Candy, Wally and Angel when they meet her suggest a huge hulking woman, who, at the time was 5’8", 178lbs. Somewhat large, but not huge by any stretch.
I just thought it was very odd - I kept picturing her at 6’, 240 lbs - 5’8" 178lbs is dwarfish compaired.
I thought the movie was the truest of any of Irving’s books to make it to the silver screen. I mean, unless you’re willing to film a trilogy “cough” you couldn’t fit most of his works into 1 movie. I thought cider house did a decent job of catching the drift, so to say. He just writes very dense involved fantastic novels, and they don’t compress well. CHR had some good acting in it, but by necessity they had to leave so much out, sigh.
I refuse to see Simon Birch on principle. Owen Meany was just too special to risk seeing ruined IMHO.
Simon Burch was an awesome movie - as long as you don’t try and make it into Owen Meany - as it is much different in some significant ways from the novel.
I loved the novel - and re read it after seeing the movie (which I also enjoyed - and have seen again). The novel blows the movie away - but that is true of any great novel compared to the movie version.
I recommend seeing “Simon Burch” - then re-reading Owen Meany to get the complete story again.