I enjoyed the film, but I haven't read the book yet.
How similiar is the ending to the novel? I found myself wanting to ask more questions about what happened to Merry after she and her father spoke last. They never showed her face, but judging by her clothes she was more well off than she was living in the abandoned building. Did the book elaborate more?
LOL, in case you haven't yet read the book (& you really should, it's probably Roth's best), there are considerable divergences. First of, the narrator meets with the Swede early on, with the idea of doing a book about his life, but that never actually develops, the Swede, for reasons the author will discover later on, backs away from the idea.
After his death, most of what the author learns comes from the brother—as in the movie. The Swede & his brother quarrel a lot over Merry. After the brother learns that Swede has found her again, he urges him to turn her in. Swede, of course, will not. Finally he tells his brother she's dead. We, the readers, never learn for certain whether or not that's true. Possibly Swede said it to protect her in case his brother goes to the authorities.
Naturally then, there's no appearance at the funeral.
The book ends at a backyard bbq, the precise details of which elude me after more than a decade, but the passage described therein is what Roth calls the "American Pastoral". I do remember that it's a taut, embarrassing moment: one the character's wives is drunk & bent on revealing uncomfortable truths. It's well worth a read. Maybe the movie will inspire me to reread it.
Roth clearly did his homework on how gloves are made & makes a detailed description of the process very interesting.