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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
I couldn't tell you what this book is about, but I loved it!
slow-paced
To the person who told me this is their favourite book ever: “yep. I get it.” It’s an absurd feat of imagination and would likely win the heart of anyone with memories growing up in large, chaotic families. Fucking bonkers. I hope someone makes a three part miniseries - one episode per hotel.
This is a saga starring a family of seven. They live in the titular Hotel New Hampshire and the story follows their lives. This is not the kind of book where nothing happens - a lot of dramatic things do happen - but the plot is overshadowed by a whole lot of bullshit.
There is quite a lot of sex, which is fine, but the way it is portrayed is sometimes weird and sometimes just plain disgusting or doesn't make any sense.
There are also other things that are weird and uncomfortable, like when a terrorist is likened to a pornographer or the scene where they confront Chipper Dale. Also the whole bear thing seemed weird and out of place.
I feel like I should be reading a lot of things into the book, but to me it seems odd and doesn't mean anything.
I must say that the characters are well drawn. There is a part where, in quick succession, we are introduced to 5 females of the same profession and I could instantly picture each of them as individual people.
Also, a part of the book is set in Vienna, and only 2-3 German words and phrases are butchered (it could have been worse).
There is quite a lot of sex, which is fine, but the way it is portrayed is sometimes weird and sometimes just plain disgusting or doesn't make any sense.
Spoiler
What's with the part where Franny and John are cured of their attraction for each other by fucking until they're sore? How does that make any sense? Also the way John sleeps with prostitutes the whole time is weird, and the fact that Susie is a Lesbian seems brushed aside in the end when she marries John?There are also other things that are weird and uncomfortable, like when a terrorist is likened to a pornographer or the scene where they confront Chipper Dale. Also the whole bear thing seemed weird and out of place.
I feel like I should be reading a lot of things into the book, but to me it seems odd and doesn't mean anything.
I must say that the characters are well drawn. There is a part where, in quick succession, we are introduced to 5 females of the same profession and I could instantly picture each of them as individual people.
Also, a part of the book is set in Vienna, and only 2-3 German words and phrases are butchered (it could have been worse).
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Wonderful, crazy, generous. John Irving understands families so well, but where he takes them and what he does with them is always mad and surprising.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Incest, Rape, Death of parent
This book does mirror the world according to garp but it was a lot different. I was suprised at a lot of the things that happened and the way certain situations turned out, especially between the narrator John and his sister Franny. i was def not expecting THAT. But as always Irving hooked me with this book has he has done with so many others, its always refreshing to read one of his novels because your always going to find something unique and characters you can't help but fall in love with.
I’ve wanted to read this for years and had high expectations. I loved this book. It’s interesting how Irving builds this weird and wonderful family story blended with fairy tales. I’d love to pick the writer’s brain about the connection between this book and Donald Justice’s poetry. I love the way Win Berry describes hotels, the one constant in his life: “We’ve been in the business for years, and that’s just what a good hotel does: it simply provides you with the space, and with the atmosphere, for what it is you need. A good hotel turns space and atmosphere into something generous, into something sympathetic—a good hotel makes these gestures that are like touching you, or saying a kind word to you, just when (and only when) you need it. A good hotel is always there. . . Yes, that’s what I like about a good hotel!. . . Everyone is nice. In a great hotel . . . You have a right to expect niceness. You come to us, my dear. . . like someone who’s been maimed, and we’re your doctors and your nurses . . . If you come to a great hotel in parts, in broken pieces . . . When you leave the great hotel, you’ll leave it whole again.” And with all of Lilly’s despair about the inability to get the ending right, and with the perfection of the Great Gatsby’s ending, Irving does get it right: “Coach Bob knew it all along: you’ve got to get obsessed and stay obsessed. You have to keep passing the open windows.”
A lot of years since I read Garp...and sadly at this point in my life at least , not finding Irvings writing my cupping tea...quirky families and characters trying too hard to be just that feels too contrived to me. Wanted to love this because my author daughter in law does...Sorry Emily ! x
dark
emotional
funny
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes