Rating: 
Summary: YES!
Review: I'm nowhere close to a literary critic, so I'll spare you a high-brow, snooty review discussing the conceit of this novel and its allegories and whatnot. All I can really say about this novel that might do it justice is that it is wonderful. It is a highly enjoyable read, packed to the point of collapse with bizarre characters and even more bizarre events, terribly poignant passages and a joy for the unexpected. It was written in 1978, but it hasn't aged a day: it could have been written just last week and it would still be great. By all means give it a shot, you will not regret it. A definite favorite.
Rating:
Summary: ABSOLUTLY AMAZING!!!
Review: Absolutely amazing, I was skeptical in the beginning to read this book. I saw The World According to Garp: The Movie, and thought it was an awful concoction, of strange sexual behavior and weird characters I felt nothing for.
Just recently a co-worker of mine urged me to read a John Irving novel (THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP) and the thoughts of the film came back to haunt me. I told him that I hated the movie Garp, and wasn't sure I wanted to read any thing he had written. I have been reading for 20 years and have seen every novel since Cider House Rules come out in hardcover only to glance at it with prejudice, thinking to myself "there is that guy who wrote that Garp book, which became that awful movie." So naturally, I was hesitant, when my co-worker recommended it.
So one day I walked into the local Borders and started to check out the Irving Novels; When this younger guy was peering over my shoulder, and asked me if I had ever read any of Irving's novels? I said No! Never; and he told me if I do read any of them, I have to read GARP first. I began to get nervous. Is this a conspiracy against me to read John Irving? Later that week I saw an old tattered copy of The World According to Garp, for a Dollar on a used book table on Broadway; I thought this must be an omen. So, I purchased the book, and started to read....
Absolutely amazing, absorbing and one of the best novels I have ever read. Irving's words flow to me like a hot knife through butter. I felt apprehension while reading, because I would read the story and wonder how the story was going to continue without sounding too campy or silly. Irving never let me down, he would manage to keep the story going no matter what mud was thrown into the mix. Reading the book was like easing into a warm bad, easy to get started and I was quick to lose track of time.
Reading, The World According to Garp was like watching a Truman Show esq, story, Garp is an individual we watch from all angles, from the points of view of his mother, wife, children and trusted friends and enemies and Garp himself. We are show his infidelities, his insecurities, his neurotic episodes of dealing with his mother, wife, children, sexual exploits, his problems as a writer, etc. The story, is quirky and unpredictable with just the right amount of sincerity, you can't go wrong with. I fell in love with Garp and for the first time in my life I became misty at some moments in the book, especially the ending. To make me misty, is good writing. As I read on, I started to frequent used book shops to see if I can find other copies of Irving's novels. Let me say that there are not too many in circulation, which leads me to believe that people are hard pressed to give away their Irving novels because they are something you want to hold on to. I will say that if you want a Grisham, Nora Roberts, or a James Patterson novel there are plenty to find at the used book stores. If you should find a Irving novel in a used book shop and you haven't read it, buy it or it will be gone when you return in the future. I loved THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP, and will read more Irving novels in the future. 6 stars******
Rating:
Summary: striking & original--if it's your first read
Review: I am glad I read this before any of Irving's other books--this meant I could consider the plot original and refreshing in its absurdity. The characters' quirks and situations are bizarre, yet Irving wove their interactions so subtly that they seem realistic; the effect on the reader is only empathy/sympathy for the characters, mixed with delicious irony. The foreshadowing is effective (except maybe one too many "God knows what happened to ___s) and fits seemingly improbable events together very well. I liked the depictions of a writer's struggle and was especially delighted by the respect paid to readers as well--something no book I've read has mentioned.That said, this book may pale if you read it after _A Son of the Circus_ or _Setting Free the Bears_. These books (and possibly others, based on reviews I've read) recycle the same character types and themes. Always Vienna, writers, transvestites, and bears . . . I strongly like _The World According to Garp_, but his other books seem to diminish it by using so many of the same elements. Sometimes this works (as in a couple of Pat Conroy's books, which don't copy as blatantly), but with Irving it just feels tiresome. But still, Garp is a *great novel when it stands alone.*
Rating:
Summary: Great Plot
Review: This book has a complex, interesting plot, easy to read, great book and highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: I wanted to read more
Review: This is the first Irving book I've ever read and I am very impressed with his style. He is very " explicit" in a humorous way and up to a certain limit that seems to fit the story and life-tyle of Garp. The book left me wanting to read more; I would deffenitly recommend it. It is very intertaining and it introduced me to a very talented writer.
Rating:
Summary: I wish I had more stars
Review: My favorite author. My favorite book. Amazing Chacters. Beautiful Story. I find it had to believe there wasnt actually a writer named TS Garp. Be ready to laugh. Be ready to Cry. Be ready to be shocked. But you will never be ready for Garp. Read it. Trust me.
Rating: 
Summary: Epic Characters
Review: It's hard to cut this story down in a few, trite summary lines. "The World According to Garp" isn't simply an epic account of a man's life; it also covers his mother's life, his wife's life, and his three kid's lives - all right up to their individual deaths. It also accounts for several peripheral character's lives as well, including a former NFL player who had a sex change. And that's the strength of Irving's novel - the varied, interesting characters. Each of them bounces through the story, all having extreme sexual issues - each character's concept of sexual relations clashing with each other's. This material may turn some readers off, but Irving doesn't treat it salaciously. There are also large sections of stories that Garp "wrote" within the book. Though they stall the progression of the central story, they are vivid diversions that I didn't mind reading. In his new Afterword, John Irving claims that he didn't know what the central premise of his epic Garp manuscript until his son told him it was about "fear of losing your children". I disagree. Sex and lust recur so often in "Garp", it's a theme that cannot be considered as anything but central to the premise: lust leads to misery.
Rating:
Summary: the book according to stephen
Review: Picking up and reading The World According To Garp is like being told what art is, in relation to life, because no one ever knew the words to describe it before-- or (to my knowledge) since. After reading only the first few chapters I was quick to remark, to anyone who asked, that Garp was "well written, haphazardly constructed" and it is (to the author's credit and not as a strike against him), every bit as much as life is. Because of the manner in which the book was written it took me a few months to get through it-- it would take me days to reflect on the importance of a single *chapter.* In the afterword of the 20th anniversary edition John Irving states that his son, Colin (at the age of 12), told him that The World According To Garp was about a father's fear of the death of his children or of anyone loved. Irving agreed, I do not. Death, and the fear of it, are certainly themes in Garp but no more than many of the other perils of life are: fear of failure, mistrust, disappointment, being unfaithful, pretension, anger, depression, etc. etc. And that's not even mentioning the positives: true love, the joys of sex, lifelong friendships, short friendships that teach lifelong lessons, overcoming disabilities, overcoming criticism, and if the whole book were as fresh in my mind as the jam packed epilogue I could probably add to these lists for days. To say that The World According To Garp is even mostly about any one thing would be belittling the story and the artist who was brave enough to write it. At any time that you get to thinking the lows in your life are too much, you can pick up John's book about Garp's life and have him fill you in on how full of **** you are. Not to say that Garp's life was overly miserable, just that it was life. He was born and he was taught and then he lived and he learned, he lost his way and got caught up in crusades that were never his own, then he had just enough time to find that way again before he was gone. You can tell almost that much about the book just by reading the chapter titles, the meat is in the 600 pages that enlighten you on exactly how. Most of you will never read those pages, though, because there is no mystery to be solved and no dragons to be slain. If Garp hadn't come highly recommended by someone I trust, I would have never gotten through it, either. I would have never laughed with and at it's characters (as it did), cried with and for them (as it did), and fallen in love with them or sometimes simply got attached to them (as, of course, it also did). Leaving The World According To Garp is wanting to go back to it, until you realize that you've always been in it, still are, and until your own death, always will be. If you walk through life with no spiritual beliefs, no direction outside of that your elders or contemporaries give you, no Bible-- then Garp is you Bible. It will not tell you how to live your life, just that if you do your best, life is always livable. I've read a couple of books that I like better than The World According To Garp, but never one as good. It's more interesting than a lifetime subscription to The National Enquirer.
Rating:
Summary: Read this book
Review: The World According to Garp has to be one of the oddest yet most thought provoking books that I have read. This is a book that everyone should read even if your not into straigt fiction this book will keep you reading. Its simply a great book. I read the book and gave it to three people who usually dont even read and they found it to be irrisistable. Anyone who has ever had problems in life will find this book both insightful and hilarious. A must read.
Rating: 
Summary: not what I expected
Review: While everyone raves about this book, I found it boring and depressing and couldn't finish it. I bought it to read because the author is coming to town to speak. I got bogged down by Garp's immorality and lust as well as the obscene language. The "novels within the novel" were irrelevent and disjointed. I did, however, enjoy the humor within the pathos. I was very disappointed.
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