Anyone read the book?**POSSIBLE SPOILER**

I'm watching the film as I write this. Lonny's mom apparently died giving birth to him, and his father died in a car wreck. The car was being driven by Hud, and their father blamed Hud for the death. The book is titled Horseman, Pass By and is available on Amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/Horseman-Pass-Novel-Larry-McMurtry/dp/068485385X/sr=1-1/qid=1158525183/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-3964024-5456958?ie=UTF8&s=books
I hope this helps, I need to get a copy and read it myself!

Let me repeat a post I left a long time ago about the movie and the differences with McMurtry's novel:

If you've never read the Larry McMurtry novel on which this film was based, you'll be surprised at the significant plot changes that were made for the movie. The housekeeper is named Halmea, not Alma, and she's black. Hud (real name Scott) is Homer's stepson, not his son, and his mother is still alive and living on the ranch. The whole interaction between Hud and Lonnie that's central to the film doesn't exist in the book. Not only that, but there is no older brother -- so the whole plot about Hud having killed Norman in an a car accident doesn't exist, either. Still, it's a great book -- the first significant novel of the "new west."