"Save Earth. Save Erid."

- Driver was used by his father for crime until he got too big at 12 and was labeled useless, was emotionally (and maybe physically) abused/neglected by his mother, watched his mother kill his father and didn’t bat an eye, tried to take care of his mother afterwards so he wouldn’t get taken by the state, gets taken by the state regardless, and lives in foster care until “a few days shy” of turning sixteen, wherein he steals the family car and runs away. He lives out of the car, scared and paranoid, until he takes up with Shannon. Baby had it ROUGH

- Driver is implied to likely be YOUNGER THAN 20 when he meets Irene (Irina in the book). He stays with Shannon for four months when he’s sixteen/seventeen, starts squirreling back money, and when he moves into his apartment and meets Irene, he tells her that he’d “Been [in L.A.] a few months. Staying with a friend till now.” Later, when Benicio asks how old Driver is, Driver says 20 and follows up in his mind with “He wasn’t, but that’s what he was telling the world.” His best friend in the book also calls him “kid” and “boy” a lot, even making a pointed remark how Driver’s still basically a child towards the end of the book

- Unlike only having Shannon in the movies, book!Driver actually has a scarce few number of friends — two from childhood, three in adulthood (excluding whatever he, Irene, and Standard have going on). He genuinely makes an effort many, many times to be a good/protective friend (he “very carefully broke [a bully’s] thumb” for being a dick about his friend in middle school), and as an adult, he reaches out both to and for comfort, especially when either his friends or he might die (see below)

- In the movie, you briefly see a doctor character cleaning Driver’s arm post-botched robbery. In the book, Doc is there several times and actually has his own POV chapter, and Driver visits him when he’s dying, trying to comfort him and call Doc’s daughter even knowing she won’t answer. He’s 1/3 people Driver outright calls a friend

- In the book, a screenwriter and former novelist named Manny Gilden is Driver’s main, most constant companion/best friend throughout the entire story. More than Standard and Irene! Manny is the first person Driver genuinely introduces to us in chapter 2, and is also the last person Driver talks to before going to meet Bernie Rose because Driver, feeling very existential, says he wanted “the company of a friend, I think”

- In chapter 2, it’s established that Driver doesn’t read very much unless he’s very bored on set, and if he doesn’t know a word, he usually puts the book down to go call Manny for a definition. Driver does this with the word ‘Desuetude’ AND LITERALLY WALKS TWO BLOCKS TO A PAYPHONE AT A DENNY’S TO ASK LMAO

- Driver doesn’t have a cellphone (book was published in 2005), so he has to find a pay phone EVERY TIME he wants to call Manny about a word. Manny picks up every time Driver calls him

- Driver, well, drives Manny a lot of places, including across the country when he’s not doing stunts, and they usually hang out together and drink wine. Driver knows a decent bit about wine because that’s literally the one thing Manny spends his Hollywood wealth on

- Manny is also the one person we know for a fact Driver keeps in touch with post-story

- Movie!Shannon is a combination of book!Shannon and Manny as far as his role goes. He’s also Scots-Irish in the book (the audiobook even gives him an accent). Young Driver trails after Shannon a lot, and eventually asks to buy Shannon a drink. Shannon clocks he’s homeless very fast and buys Driver food instead because he basically wants to see what’s up with this kid LMAO after Driver shows off his stunt skills, he passes out drunk with Shannon, wakes up at his house, and lives on Shannon’s couch for four months