Rating: 
Summary: A Loss of Innocence?
Review: The World According to Garp, I think, was a book of its time. Like Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run or The Beatles Sgt Peppers', it captured a feeling in the community, particularly the baby boomers, which a lot of people then understood and related to. Unfortunately, with time, this understanding has become less than clear to ensuing generations. It was released in the mid to late 1070s (1978 I think) when the baby boomers were all hitting 30 and starting to slow down, starting to think they needed some literary icon of their own generation to look to, the way they had looked to the Beatles, Stones and Rolling Stone magazine etc when they were teenagers. Remember, Salinger, Keroac, Kesey, Thompson etc were all born pre-WWII.The most peculiar (to younger readers) element of this novel must be the Ellen Jamesians, a metaphor I think, for the fanatics that dominated the society, politics and news of the 1970s - everything from disco mania to Patty Hearst's terrorist group, to the student killings at Kent State, to all the other violent terrorist acts of that decade. All had their genesis in the freedom of expression realised by the baby boomers in the 1960s and the frustration and anger that came with the realisation that society being what it is, this freedom had nowhere to go. (TANGENT: that freedom of expression was always there, it was just that these were the first kids to see themselves on TV, the first fruits of the first real middle class America had known, and they thought their future would be different to that of their parents because their youth had been) So, the anger poured out against segregation and Vietnam in the 1960s and early 1970s had nowhere to go once Nixon resigned and Saigon fell. It started moving into social issues like feminism and political freedom and turned what were logical idealistic movements into often extreme and violent ones. That is the reason for the part about Garp meeting Ellen James and realising he had been right all along about her view of the fanatics who bannered themselves with her name. The Ellen Jamesians mutilated themselves, symbolism, I think, for what happens to all extreme groups - they fall because the anger cannot be maintained and they crumble from self inflicted wounds. While the Ellen Jamesian movement did not crumble in Garp, I think Irving hinted at this inevitability through the sheer lunacy of their cause and their actions - against which Garp provided a voice of reason. Reason is always floored by extreme views - hence the book's climax. John Irving is a hippie and a romantic. He believes in true love, intertwining lives and devotion which sometimes borders on obsession. In light of this, Garp is really about loss of love and the fear that eventually that loss must be suffered, either physically or emotionally by us all. In effect it was a loss of innocence novel for baby boomers, by a baby boomer.
Rating: 
Summary: a decent read, but doesn't live up to its hype
Review: I read this book all at once, in about eight hours straight- so I figured it at least deserved something for keeping my attention that long. It didn't live up to my expectations, though. I read it based on the glowing reviews, and I was disappointed. I thought a lot of the scenes were overdone and a bit contrived- the accident in the driveway, for example, was a bit much. And for his kid Duncan to lose multiple body parts- enough is enough. And outlining everyone's deaths at the end seemed a bit melodramatic. There was no message to this book either, and nothing it really made me ponder, except maybe the hazards of coasting into your driveway with the lights off. The last line about "terminal cases" sounds cool, but it just hangs there, not attached to anything. I thought Garp would be more of a philosopher, or at least more of an interesting weirdo, but he was really just a mediocre writer who got off on adultery and chasing speeding cars.
Rating: 
Summary: Dedicated to G.C.
Review: No other book that I have read in the last four years has enthralled me as much as this one. Here, Irving captures an essential truth of life: None of us ever really know what the consequences of our actions will be. Jenny writes her autobiography, with no ulterior motive, and is unwittingly turned into a feminist leader. Garp plays a childish game with his kids that leads to horrific ends. A barabric rape becomes the inspiration for a deluded extremist group. We all stumble from episode to episode of our lives, trying to find some way to hold it all together and create meaning. And almost all of us fail. The best we can do is protect the good things that come our way and fight the Under Toad whenever we can. Many critics deride this book because of its eccentric characters and strange plot twists, wondering where the point is. But the point is that there is no point. Life kicks your a** and doesn't leave you with a whole lot of satisfaction, but that doesn't mean you can't find a little joy sometimes. And when you do find it -- hold on tight.
Rating: 
Summary: The World According to a Bad Writer
Review: This book was far too long and I'm not sure why I bothered to read the entire thing. I guess I was just assuming that Irving might actually write something worthwhile somewhere in the 500 (or so)excruciating pages. I really don't understand why Irving bothered to write this book, and I'm even more perplexed as to why it has been so well received. A friend of mine, whose name (Dax Oliver) shall reamain anonymous, said that this book actually inspired him to write again. If that's the case, then I can foresee nothing but frustration and futility in his career as a writer.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely brilliant!!
Review: What can you say about an author who can pack so much into one book, and the reader thinks nothing of it. Garp is an extremely complex character that is so very easy to relate to. I found myself talking to him as some people do at the movies, thinking that my opinions would guide him in the right direction. I can think of no other book that I have read that drew me in and completely immersed me in the characters' lives. I recommend this book to anyone who will listen.
Rating:
Summary: Mr. Irving does a very good job creating a farce on life
Review: Hi, I'm 16, and I loved this book, not because I'm a hormone-driven adolescent male, but because this book makes everyone who reads it step back to assess his/her own lives. The book IS wierd, I'll give you that much, but the way that Irving describes basic human nature through his main charachter, Garp, is perfect. Although Irving used some pretty unconventional charachters to get his points accross, like Roberta Muldoon the transexual ex-Philadelphia Eagle, this only adds humor to his loose parody of life. A man getting castrated while being given oral sex may not be funny to most people, but I laughed for about five minutes straight. A lot of people, in their reviews, say that Irving's novel is "grotesque," but this to me is a load of bull. The only way that Irving could have made a point as abstract as the one in The World According to Garp stick in the minds of his readers, was to use some unconventional means. And remember, "in the world according to Garp, we are all terminal cases."
Rating:
Summary: Hard to put it down; I would love to meet Garp!
Review: I haven't read a novel in a long time. Being a full time student, I don't have time for extra reading. A friend recommended this book to me over the summer. Once I started, I couln't stop! I read at every opportunity. I was so anxious to see what would happen next. A truly wonderful book, for anyone!
Rating:
Summary: An entertaining sham
Review: Irving's idea of a plot is to throw in the most bizarre event anyone can imagine and then have his characters suffer the consequences. Many people who love this book claim that it is like real life. I doubt that very much unless you know some transeexual football players, people who were castrated during oral sex, etc., etc., Garp tries to be a reflection of reality but only ends up being an unsatisfactory and grotesque parody of it. I got the sense that Irving was deliberately trying to be odd in many sections of this book. The final effect is artifical and manipulative.
Rating:
Summary: A disturbing page turner
Review: I just finished reading this book barely an hour ago and my immediate reaction is 'disturbed'. I can't decide if the book is a sensationalist soap opera audience intended book or one that was meant to provoke thought. I know that I need to think about it to 'settle' it in my mind but I find that I don't want to because it will be too depressing. For me the book was undoubtedly about death. I read the comments of Mr Irving (on this website) and am most thoroughly surprised that it took his 12 year old son to tell him what the book was about. Intially, I came up with alternate theories about what the book might be about but by the end I knew and everything else fit into place. The one constant in life (an individual's - not the life cylce) is death. I treasure the book though for the perspective it gave me on reading a book. (for this alone, I give it an extra star) Serious or sensationalist? I probably have that in mind right now as I tried to decide on Garp. The question I have for Mr.Irving and most other good authors (I have no doubt in my mind that Mr.Irving is a good author) is 'was his intention when writing the book to provoke thought and numerous interpretations or did he just write the book as he thought it?'. This gives me the answer to my dilemma, if the book was written as a basic story which he imagined - it is brilliant (for it managed to provoke thought at the same time) - but if the book did intend to have an underlying serious theme - it didn't succeed. I find it too hard to take it seriously for the 'sensationalism' of the characters and events. Choking on an olive? After all the previous tragic deaths, it seems as if Mr.Irving is desperately trying to get rid off all his charachters in as 'unusual' a way as possible. This left me with a bitter taste in my mouth for I feel that most authors only kill off all their characters when they don't know how to end their book and don't want to have a happy ending. -responses will be appreciated-
Rating:
Summary: Irving states "A is A"
Review: frequently, when an author captures so much of life's complexities, ironies, tragedies, etc in a wonderful book, we readers are left with our mouths agape stammering "hey, he tells it like it is because ......." Similarly to "To Kill A Mockingbird", "Confederacy of Dunces", several Vonnegut novels, and "Things Fall Apart", there's not much that we can add, other than to admit that yes, he hit the nail on the head. However, I would like to add my two cents anyway. My first cent would be to the readers who think that a transsexual tight end is contrived and unrealistic. How about a running back who chops off his ex-wife's head and gets away with it? Secondly, I think that it was a terrible error for the moviemakers to cast Robin Williams as Garp. I believe Robin Williams is a great actor and a sincere man, but I felt that he was too much of an inherent buffoon to be Garp. Casting him perverted to me the entire message of Garp, which was extraordinary things happen to ordinary, but unique people, not manic comic geniuses. Of course, I suspect that not everyone will agree with me, I would just suggest that people re-read the book envisioning the guy who pumps their gas or some neighbor that they don't know very well as Garp, as I did, and see if and how that enhances their enjoyment of his adventures.
|
