.
Lately, however, Gilbert has been distracted by the arrival of a new girl named Becky. In the book, she is a 15-year-old visitor staying in town with her grandmother for the summer; in the movie, she seems older and is stranded there while her grandmother tries to repair their camper. In the book, Becky is Gilbert's first true love, and he has no idea how to handle the infuriating, delicious feelings she brings out in him. In the movie, she is the wise observer who helps Gilbert to begin to understand his own longings and needs: she gets him to admit, "I want to be a good person" (Hallstrom), a desire that belongs more to the Gilbert of the movie than the one of the novel.
The film tones down many of the bigger-than-life elements of the book. For instance, Amy in the book is starting to gain weight and is afraid that she is following her mother's path. She is a hopeless Elvis fan but reveres only the image of the thin, youthful Elvis in the posters with which she covers the walls of her bedroom. In the movie, however, she is
...