Chris Bentley, director of the film, said in a New Yorker Book Review podcast that it was the focussing on “the vastness of this small little life” that enabled him and his co-writer, Greg Kwedar “to capture the spirit of the book.” *
From Train Dreams, a rich seam (that vastness of an everyday life) of companion reading : Johnson’s novella; the story collections Jesus' Son and The Largesse Of The Sea Maiden; and his National Book Award winning Tree of Smoke (Vietnam 1963-1970).
At the end of the podcast Bentley was asked for book recommendations including “one no one has heard of.” I guess I’m one of the few who had read and have a copy of Michael Ondaatje’s The Collected Works of Billy the Kid.
His other recommendation was a novel by John Berger, Once in Europa. This year is the centenary of Berger’s birth so there’s a kind of revival going on. In my queue : his 1967 nonfiction book with photographer Jean Mohr A Fortunate Man, The Story of A Country Doctor, and his 1972 Booker winning novel G.
* The actor Will Patton who reads the audio book (recommended) also does the narrator's voice-over in the film.
