Rating: 
Summary: Reading other Writers
Review: This book is profoundly touching because the outwardly very odd characters are so true to life. In addition to being an excellent read, I think it is a must read for all aspiring writers for its commentary on writing itself. This book shows stark realism using uterly unrealistic characters. If a vision world as a bizzare, funny and often tragic place offends you read this book anyway; perhaps you can better understand people who do.
Rating:
Summary: Caution: Strong Under Toad
Review: This book is not hilarious, but parts of it are amusing. The story moves ploddingly for the first 12 chapters but proceeds quickly after chapter 13. Garp's story is complex, but Irving has carefully and thoughtfully composed each chapter. Initally the story appears to be an examination of sexuality, an already complex subject that becomes more confusing in the latter half of the 20th century. Contraception, feminism, sex role reversal and transexualism(presumably signs of societal progress)actually diminish sexuality and sexual intercourse as inconsequential: sex without birth. Much of the apparent confusion is personified in Roberta Muldoon: a curious combination of masculine prowess and feminine intuition. She is however, a product of technology rather than nature. Sex is a dual (literally) between individuals and (figuratively) between political factions. The wrestling metaphor appears frequently but most poignantly in the rape of Hope Standish. The latter half of the story explores this and other hateful aspects of sexuality, including masochism. Any brief synopsis or review of this book is inadequate.
Rating: 
Summary: Great writing, but unfocused
Review: The situations are delightfully broad. No one writes their character's prose better than John Irving. No one can write a punchline in a novel, or make as great effect of speech impediments in a novel like John Irving. However, I was disappointed. This was only the second of his novels(A Widow For One Year)I'd read. I also saw Cider House Rules the movie, but that doesn't count. However, the amount of distinctly separate similar images appearing in either two or all three of these stories(as well as his other work) is unbelievably large. Obviously, he wrote this one first, and every author's allowed to have his themes, but they seem so random( the bears, the European prostitutes,the younger man/older woman sex, the self-reflexive novel, the car accidents, the long lost mother), and I'm just getting started! So what, you ask? Well, fair or not, all these clues inevitably make me look for a common purpose, a goal. What is the overall message? As wonderfully colorful, comic, and, about a third through, engaging as it becomes, it seems to me that the theme wanders. Reading the afterword only confirmed my suspicion that Irving doesn't know exactly what it's about, and for me, a novel as long as The World According to Garp has to add up to something.
Rating:
Summary: My New Favorite Book!
Review: Garp can be funny and tragic at the same time. It is well written, and a great read. You will not be able to put this book down! After you finish, you will want to read it again and again!
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Summary: Irving at his Best
Review: Like Owen Meany, Irving once again creates another cast of eccentric, but entirely likable characters. The personalities of T.S. Garp, Roberta Muldoon, Jenny Fields, Mrs. Ralph and of course the Ellen Jamesians all create a world for the reader full of wit and intrigue. By the end of the novel the development of Garps character is so complete you feel as though you knew him. How Irving creates such a true portrait of reality with the most humorous, saddening, and complexities of life is amazing. A truly recommended read.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: The World According to Garp is a vivid, emotional, and very imaginative read. It tells the tale of a man named T.S. Garp. He is the son of a world-famous feminist author, an author himself, a husband to a loving and earnest wife, and the father to two children. Despite his unorthodox conception, Garp is just about as normal a person as can be. He has his flaws, of course, just as any person would, but he seems far too real and alive for your imagination to lead you to think otherwise. However, as normal a character Garp might be, his life is anything but. It is marred with adulterous affairs, cheating wives, a world-famous mother, struggles to be a successful writer, the anxieties of parenting, the loss of a child, a transsexual ex-football player friend, fanatic cult members who cut off their tongues in anti-male protest, dear and down-to-earth prostitutes, soul-searching trips to Vienna, and much, much more. All the above account for 600-plus pages of enraptured storytelling, the likes of which I have never read. The reader (or in this case, I) becomes entrenched into the lives of John Irving's obtusely realistic characters, for this is where he has no doubt placed his greatest emphasis. The strong cast of 15 or so main and background characters easily cover the gamut of recognizable human characteristics. Irving not only plays the role of storyteller, but he also plays the role of social observer and commentator. His characters are so realistic, so utterly recognizable that the reader needs little effort to connect to each and every one of them. There are a whole slew of themes criss-crossing their way across the novel. A few of the more prominent would be the breakthrough of sexual roles, the breakthrough of sexual frustration, the longing to be understood and loved, the need for family togetherness, and so on and so forth. There are simply too many to mention. With The World According to Garp, John Irving has achieved a true classic. Not only has he proven that he is of the most artistic and skilful of writers, but he has also proven that one can find more realism in a fictitious novel than one can potentially find in the world outside the door.
Rating:
Summary: Complex and original!
Review: This book is a work of genius. It's funny. It's outrageous. But most of all it's truly captivating as story after story and story within story unfolds. Every word of this voluminous book is part of a plot to entertain which succeeds overwhelmingly. You'll never read another book quite like it!
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Summary: Give Credit Where Credit Is Due
Review: It disturbs me to read some of the reviews I have read about Mr.Irvings incredibly written novels. To say that John Irving is an untalented writer, I would consider to be blasphemy. Maybe some of his characters can be unrealistic at times, but if you want everything to be just like real life then why are you looking in the fiction section? Anyone who can honestly call any of John Irving's characters "hollow" must have a small, gray stone in place of a heart. He has some of the most touching, heartbreaking characters I have ever come upon. Garp strikes an amazingly true chord in the heart of so many of its readers that to call Irving untalented would be equivalent to saying that the ceiling of the Sistine chapel is ugly. Take the time to read Irving, he will make it worth your while.
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Summary: Shocking View for life
Review: Since I read this book...I started writing like never before...I feel the hidden intentions of people as clear as the sun...John Irving puts Garp in places where he forces the strangest behaviour out of normal people... When I started reading this book...I was captured from the first page...I could not let it out of my mind...It has been two years since I read this book and still I hear the phrase "We are all terminal cases"... Thank you Mr. Irving
Rating:
Summary: Among the best, ever.
Review: Garp introduced me to the world of John Irving, and influenced me to read everything he has written, from the 158 pound marriage through setting free the bears, a prayer for owen meany, and even a widow for one year. Garp the book and movie (with Robin Williams) is among my all-time favorites, but don't expect the same experience in Irving's later work.
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