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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
Took me a long time to get to this one. Didn't really appeal - wrong!! This is the master storyteller telling his story about a storyteller. A classic for good reason, and Irving shines. He does what he does - telling weird stories about weird people doing weird things - and it works brilliantly most of the time. Solid 4 star read!
my first introduction to john irving. despite all his railing against this, i can't help but wonder how autobiographical the book is
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Tragic but hilarious, painful but gripping - the fastest 600 pages I've read in a long while
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
‘What do you mean, “This is Chapter One”?’ Garp’s editor, John Wolfe, wrote him. ‘How can there be any more of this? There is entirely too much as it stands! How can you possibly go on?’
‘It goes on,’ Garp wrote back. ‘You’ll see.’
(373)
This is one of those books that speaks for itself. And John Irving isn’t one to hold back, so please note CONTENT WARNINGS AHEAD… and also irony.
… this was exactly how Garp’s story was interpreted. Lurid, sensational violence and sex of no redeeming value whatsoever
(375)
… and also irony.
Self mutilation, infidelity, rape, split beavers and bit dicks aside, this book writes extreme tragedy for a writer with an overactive imagination. And yet it is funny. As Christopher Lehmann-Haupt wrote in his NYT review of the book back in 1978, it makes us laugh “at some of the damndest things.”
The only reason for something to happen in a novel is that it’s the perfect thing to have happen at that time
(385)
What about wearing drag for the first time to attend your mom’s memorial service? What about denying a fictional bear the joy of riding his fictional unicycle? Were those the perfect things to have happen at the time?
As Alice Fletcher would say, “Oh yeth.”
I have never understood why ‘serious’ and ‘funny’ are thought to be opposites. It is simply a truthful contradiction to me that people’s problems are often funny and that the people are often and nonetheless sad.
I am ashamed, however, that you think I am laughing at people, or making fun of them. I take people very seriously. People are all I take seriously, in fact. Therefore, I have nothing but sympathy for how people behave - and nothing but laughter to console them with.
Laughter is my religion… In the manner of most religions, I admit that my laughter is pretty desperate.
(195)
There are dark and deeply disturbing dangers in the world. Laugh at the Under Toad, and you just might not drown in them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment
John Irving is one of my favorite authors and this is the second book of his I ever read (the first was Hotel New Hampshire). My favorite novel is still The Cider House Rules which helped shape my pro-choice views at a very young age.