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jrace 's review for:
The World According to Garp
by John Irving
OK. So I like John Irving, but it has amazingly taken me most of my adult life to actually finish one of his books. There is no question that he is a great writer and takes on nothing short of the meaning of life itself. That said, I have lately been having a hard time identifying with the main characters in books such as the World According to Garp, and prior to that Updike's first two Rabbit Novels. I enjoyed the writing and the story, and the main thing that kept me from listing this as one of my favorite books was a general dislike of the main characters. So many books from the "previous generation" seem to feature a main character who is male, not happily married, and struggling to reconcile their station in life with a taste for illicit adventures with women other than their wives. I realize I am not being super objective by jumping in and judging the actions of fictional characters, but I could not help but have T.S. Garp remind me of Rabbit from Updike. In both cases they are high school athletes, then marry and have children young, then can't seem to keep sex within their marriage, the suffer when their children are involved in accidents.
Worth the read. I ended up with this as it was one of the few available books in Chamonix written in English and it has long been on my radar. Irving is clearly very talented and the simple fact that I had issues with Garp is likely evidence that he created the character very well.
Worth the read. I ended up with this as it was one of the few available books in Chamonix written in English and it has long been on my radar. Irving is clearly very talented and the simple fact that I had issues with Garp is likely evidence that he created the character very well.