"I pinched my cheeks for color and tried to keep my eyes open as wide as I could.  I wanted to be the most gorgeous woman on the planet Earth, so gorgeous that Joe would kneel in front of the whole town and beg me to run away and live in a teepee with him."

It was strange reading a book that is the original of a movie I have watched countless times and love so much.  I didn’t even know it was a book until I happened upon it at the bookstore recently.  

I could hear Movie Charlotte’s voice (Winona Ryder) narrating.  And she fit perfectly.  

The book,  even though it was a super skinny novel (150 pages with huge font) and took me less than a day to read - including daily tasks such as domesticity, grocery shopping, and Duncan - went much deeper into Charlotte and Joe’s relationship.  In the movie, he just seemed a bit strange,  quiet.  Yet,  Charlotte was also a bit strange,  so it worked out ok.  But in the book, they had actual conversations,  and it was less Charlotte throwing herself at him (awkward scene at the bus door?  Didn’t happen) as him asking her along and telling her his life story.  Also?  Even more relevant,  Joe was a VIRGIN.  So, at 29 and 14, when they became lovers, they were the first for both. 

Also, in the book Charlotte spent time with the Mother Superior and had a job at the shoe store.  Mrs. Flax and Lou weren’t as close as they were in the movie.

So.  I pretty much had to love the book, as I already loved the movie.   It was funny, and cringeworthy.  Quirky and sweet.  A story of a girl trying so hard to forge connections and find herself while moving around the country constantly.

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