John Irving.

DanFr: A book about destiny. Great characters. It pulls you through, and wallops near the end. Better (for me) than several other of Irving's books. Unreservedly idealistic. Much better than the movie "Simon Birch", which was based on it.

SaraVonMosch: One of Irving's best books, this has characters that really stick with you. I've read it several times, and never tire of the story, characters or writing. Like several of Irving's other books, the ending starts about 300 pages from the end, so you can't stop reading until you finish the whole thing! DanFr was right when he said this was better than Simon Birch. There isn't even a comparison - the movie leaves out several key plot lines that wouldn't jive with the "cutesy" story of Simon Birch.

Book

ScottYilek: Excellent book. (added at 12:23:30 AM on 01/20/06)