I was reading the book when I saw the movie, but it did not spoil the ending....the movie was so Hollywoodized it failed to portray the true power of the written word. The book is outstanding! For me, I thought it helped put the existence of something greater than us, be it the traditional notion of "God" or some other named higher power, into a form that has the reader believing before he makes the conscious decision to do so. Why? It speaks without preaching. The movie is so bad I wouldn't even recommend renting it on video, but the book is so good I have several copies so I can lend it to people.