Rating: 
Summary: By Any Other Author...
Review: The World According to Garp is the second novel that I have read by John Irving, the first being The Cider House Rules. I must say, The World According to Garp does draw the reader in. I kept reading the book without knowing why. It was entertaining, but something was missing. I think this may have something to do with the fact that it is one of John Irving's earlier novels, before he really developed his craft. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, and would have given it 5 stars had it been by any other author, but having read John Irving before I have something to compare. The characters are colorful, but the reader doesnt really care what happens to them...for a better Irving read, I would suggest The Cider House Rules, as its characters will steal and then break your heart. All in all, The World According to Garp was a pleasant story, and I would recommend it, I was just expecting more from Irving after having read The Cider House Rules.
Rating: 
Summary: A Beautiful World
Review: John Irving is not your everyday novelist. Foremost a storyteller, he writes funny, quirky and altogether comedic episodes. Here's the difference between him and everybody else: there are consequences to the comedy, and it is usually tragic, similar to real life.
A myriad of colourful characters and a plethora of funny sequences are hidden in this book. All you have to do is open it. When I first found this book, the dust jacket was missing, and I had no idea what is was about. If you really want to know what it is about, you should imagine losing a child, or a loved one. That is the theme of T.S. Garp, named after a lobotomized, highly-sexed ball gunner. The World According to Garp is about everything and anything, but mostly the fear of death, represented by what Garp's children call the "Undertoad", after mishearing the undertow at the New England beach. The Undertoad lives in us all, Irving is trying to tell us, the Undertoad can strike at everybody, and in the novel, this does happen.
The World According to Garp is my favorite novel. It is sad, funny, tragic, hilarious, and true. The realism is heartbreaking, but still not sorrowful.
Rating: 
Summary: an "X-rated soap-opera"
Review: "the world according to garp" - what a promising title! as an english student i did not known this expression, so i bought this book primarily because of my "fascination" for its title and my love to john irving.
well, is it a good novel or not? i don't really know. i wouldn't say that it's a must-read. (if you're new to john irving i'd recommedn reading "the cider house rules" or "a prayer for owen meany" - those are WAY better.)
when i read the first chapters i felt comfortable with "good old irving" as i loved him since i had read "the cider house rules". the way he describes the conception of garp.. nicely done!
but then it gets a little more.. drastic and obscene. the middle of the book is rather unrealistic and most of all BORING! i really wanted to throw it in the corner and simply forget about it. i can't say that i am glad that i didn't throw it away. but i don't really regret finishing it, either.
...the protagonist - t.s. garp, a writer - writes rather lousy or very unpopular novels. this story inside of the story is a parallel to the story irving tells us. rather uninteresting and at the end playing with the question: "what is a good novel? does it really matter whether it's autobiographical or mere fiction?"
to me that is the only interesting point about the whole novel. i don't really care about a father that is worried about his childrens' health and safety all the time.well, maybe that's the generation gap or simply the atlantic ocean that makes me think a bit different
Rating:
Summary: The World According to Garp
Review: The one thing I want to say about this book, which is one of my all time favorites, is that I loved Garp's mother, Jenny Fields. Ever since I read the book I have wanted so badly to read A Sexual Suspect. One of the many characters in literature that I would love to meet in real life.
Rating: 
Summary: Perfect!... For Inducing Sleep...
Review: I've never had such a rough time reading anything the way that I had a rough time reading "The World According to Garp." It is hundreds of pages of pointless rambling. Irving describes the hell out of EVERYTHING and just goes into way too much detail. And not only that, but its details that are completely unimportant. Reading this book was a pure, brutal struggle and in the end, I realized that there was absolutely no point to it. In the beginning, I thought it had potential, but little did I know that I was beginning one of the most bland books I've ever read. Don't even bother, unless you're an insomniac seeking a good, deep snooze.
Rating:
Summary: John Irving needs a lesson in how life works
Review: I'm almost finished with the book and I'm not sure if I am going to finish it. I almost feel cheated because I had heard that it was such a good book. What Irving does is near unforgivable in my book because of the way he casualizes sex. So far Garp has had 9 lovers and fantasies about his son's friend's mother. it made me sick to my stomach and then he was fit to be tied when he found that his wife was cheating on him. maybe I just don't understand the whole "lust" thing but I think its sick and twisted
Rating: 
Summary: Not very good
Review: I read this book for a class assignment, and wondered what I was supposed to learn about it. I don't believe that Irving had perfected his writing skills when he wrote this, nor do I believe that he ever will do so. He jumps between different narrators - sometimes a third-person narrator or sometimes a third-person omniscient narrator. One could argue that this was style - that it was completely on purpose. But somehow, I don't think that it was. I think it was just poor writing. As to the content of the book - the plot resembled a series of soap-opera episodes. Irving seems to have quite a fascination with everything sexual, as that was one of the things that he wrote about the most in this book. The book was rather long (my copy was about 600 pages long), but felt like it should have been easily twice that. Now don't get me wrong here - I wouldn't have wanted to read another 600 pages - but the book seemed rather rushed. It was like he was trying to cram a couple of books into one. So, overall, I thought that this was not a very good book. I would not suggest reading it unless you are a huge fan of the Robin Williams film with the same title. I also would not advise parents letting their children read it as it contains so much sexual conten, though children could easily read the book due to Irving's seemingly limited lexicon. I must say that I did not like this book, and I would never read it again by choice.
Rating:
Summary: One of my all-time favorites....
Review: I forewarn everyone who picks up this book; you will forget the rest of the world exists once you start. This is the kind of book you read once, astonished that someone would even attempt at writing such a remarkable, startling, beautiful novel, and then go back to read it again and again each time finding something else to cherish and ponder. "The World According to Garp" is a book about love and fear, life and death. It is a work where we find our own faults and insecurities reflected in the characters. For anyone who wants to experience an amazing writer at the top of his craft, pick up this book.
Rating:
Summary: Garp
Review: The World According to Garp is about many, many things: death, feminism, friendship, infidelity, loss, marriage, parenthood, rape, being a writer--and most especially--lust. In its unique examination of life, there are many lessons to be learned. Irving's title character is forced to deal with these issues. In this way, Garp is somehow universal. We all go through trials of one kind or another. Even if we disagree with Garp's decisions, we can understand the struggle that living often is. Garp's life is no picnic. But it rarely ever is. The World According to Garp is the capstone to Irving's three previous novels (Setting Free the Bears, The Water Method Man, and The 158 Pound Marriage). All the themes in Garp can be found (to a degree) scattered through the three earlier stories. The big leap from the first three books to the fourth one is in Irving's plot twisting ability. Garp is nothing if not well twisted. The character of Garp comes into the world in bizarre circumstances. From there, his life only becomes stranger and stranger. Lust, the thing his mother most misunderstands, dictates much in his life. Misinterpretation (by Garp and those around him) also greatly influences Garp's path. Irving acknowledges that life is rarely black and white. Those characters who come to see it as such do so with their heads in the metaphorical sand. Perhaps this is what most enrages the more rabid critics of this book. The more of Irving's books I read, the more I have come to believe that Irving is the greatest living American author. Though I often disagree with what he writes (he seems to offend people of all ideologies), his skill as an author and storyteller is undeniable. I would put him neck and neck with A.S. Byatt as the greatest living author period. The most disturbing thing to me about Irving's writing is the vulgarity. I would argue that he puts it in enough context as to not truly be vulgar. Still, his works are explicit in the extreme. Garp is a whopping example of the phenomenon. Irving does indeed use a lot of stuff some would consider shocking or vulgar, but he does so to illuminate what is wrong with such things. Bearing all of this in mind, I feel that The World According to Garp is an American masterpiece--sometimes disturbing, more often humorous and insightful. I therefore give The World According to Garp a very high but qualified recommendation.
Rating:
Summary: Never judge a book by it's cover!
Review: The World According to Garp is very interesting. The title doesn't really fit the book but the book it better than the title seems it is. Garp has a very high suspence life that keeps you on edge. I couldn't put it down without not wanting to still read it! The book ends twisted... I let you see for your self. Please read this book, it may start out boring a long but by the end you'll be wanting more.
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