Your point are ALL well taken. I TOTALLY understand what you’re saying BUT…

I still don’t see why Thurber found it necessary to remove MAJOR characters (Arthur) and CHANGE others (Cleveland) to make this story “work” on screen. (85% comes from the fact that only 15 pages out of the 120 resemble the novel in anyway!)

Nobody is going to capture the brilliance of Chabon’s prose/Art Bechstein’s inner monologue in a film but they could at least tell the story the way it was originally intended.

It’s like somebody adapting HARRY POTTER for the screen and completely cutting Ron out of the story and making Nevil Longbottom Harry’s best friend… Who would do that?!