Rating: 
Summary: A great but strange book
Review: The World According to Garp is a brilliant book with interesting characters, great voice, and a dramatic story line. Although sometimes the novel can go off track and get into some very odd, promiscuous sex scenes, I highly recommend it to anyone in for an exciting adventure into the world according to T.S. Garp. His mother is a very loving but odd character with needs only filled by the warmth and compassion of the many people she looks after in her mansion. She is a die-hard feminist but still loves some men, one of whom has turned women to her delight. Garp has much love to give and many people to give it to. His wife and many mistresses receive much love from this affectionate man and he loves his mother just about as much as she loves him.
Rating:
Summary: A world According to Garp
Review: The World According to Garp by John Irving intrigues the reader opening their imagination into Garp's perspective of the world. Don't let the books heftiness discourage you, it reads extremely fast. The book will play like a movie in your head. John Irving posses a talent to precisely describe a situation without having to go on about it for pages, one of the reasons why it reads as fast as it does.
In this book you will be introduced to a perception on life unlike any you have encountered before. Jenny Fields, Garp's mother, bends around the natural moral standards. She decides to have a baby without the involvement of a man, how she does that you will have to read up on. After having T.S. Garp and raising him through the younger portion of his life she wrights a book about her experiences, Sexual Suspect. The book expresses her feminist feelings about life and makes her famous. She then opens up her own care house for woman. At this care house Irving introduces you into the extreme feminist group of the Ellen Jameson's, a radical group that will blow your mind when you read what they stand for. Meanwhile Garp is trying to survive in a harsh world. Garp raises a family and attempts to write his own books. When his books are not the success he dreamed of, Garp gets a little crazy, everyone only knows him for being the son of Jenny Fields. His Marriage does will not bore you either. Garp and his wife, Helena, are equally in love with one another but yet they both act upon lust toward other individuals.
The book contains many passages that will twist or agree with your way of thinking.
The World According to Garp covers all aspects of life through the experiences of Garp and Jenny. John Irving has done an excellent job bringing his characters to life. They will make you happy, sad, or even mad, but you will always want to read on.
Rating: 
Summary: Random Thoughts or Careful Organization??
Review: In my opinion, The World According to Garp resembles a collection of random thoughts organized into a man's life story. Events in the book hardly relate enough to make a novel, and the only aspect connecting the storyline lies in the brilliantly constructed characters. These vividly described characters struggle through life facing extraordinarily uncommon problems, and attempting to rid their lives of sexual lust. The book's author, John Irving, uses the main character- Garp- to examine social problems and attempt to understand human character as a whole.
Garp becomes an eccentric writer as a result of his mother's odd personality, and his own obscure motivations. Helen, his wife, remains the strong support in Garp's life, which falls apart with her first major mistake. The principle idea of this story remains nebulous until the last line of the book, when Garp's famous line finally pieces together the fragmented narrative.
Although written in a difficult-to-read style, this book features intriguing hook lines, and absurd incidents which insist on the completion of the novel. Lifelike character interpretations give the reader a reason to continue learning more about Garp and his strange circle of friends. This book includes everything from bizarre writers, and extreme feminists' to a transsexual whose former occupation was a tight end for the Philadelphia Eagles. Although The World According to Garp incorporates deep characters and an intricate synopsis, the reader cannot help feeling confused when finishing this novel.
Rating:
Summary: OK, but...
Review: After reading The Cider House Rules, I was delighted to find another John Irving book in my basement. Because The Cider House Rules is such a fabulous book, I was sure this would be too.Well, I was wrong. Sure, I'll admit that there are some good parts, but The World According to Garp seems mostly like John Irving wanting to make horrible things happen to every character. There is so much violence and death that it takes away from everything else. Yes, I know that life isn't all good, but it's sort of distracting to have someone dying in every chapter. The best part of the book, in my opinion, is Garp's story "The World According to Bensenhaver." This book leaves you with a weird, sort of freaked-out feeling.
Rating: 
Summary: Exceptional book
Review: I first read this book when i was about 15 now i am 34 and it still i still find it as intriging as ever I also realised even then that it was a book for the open minded
Rating:
Summary: did jerry springer get his show idea from john irving ?
Review: i swear, this book reads like one long jerry springer episode. complete with prostitutes, feminists with tongues cut out. sex maniacs, a transexual ex-football player,infidelity for days and lots of drama. and oh yeah, it's also about writing and about writers. and about how great writers can toil their whole life in obscurity, while those with little or no talent become huge. it's not always laugh out loud funny, though there were some scenes that did cause me to do that. mainly what i liked about garp was that he was alot like holden caufield. he was trying to save everything. he wanted to make the world safe for his children, but we all know that's impossible. i wonder did irving write this book as opposed to therapy. i'm sure he felt better after finishing it
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Summary: GARP!
Review: I last read this a few years ago so my review is based on my recollections. It boils down to: a sprawling narrative, a bunch of zany characters, a strong sense of tragicomedy, a few sex scenes, a few gory scenes, a little bit of everything. Irving is known for this, and at times things get out of control or seem strained in his works. However, for some reason all the elements fit together perfectly in Garp. Beneath all of the highjinks going on Garp seems most of all to be a story underlined by sadness, a novel whose events are controlled by an undercurrent (an "under toad", perhaps) of CHANGE. In this sense it's similar to the Lord of the Rings--another sprawling, incredible tale. PS The movie didn't seem to do the book justice.
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Summary: Not as good as "Owen Meany"
Review: I read this book after reading "A Prayer for Owen Meany", and while this book was very good, it didn't quite live up to the expectations I had for it. But, I guess it is to be expected that an author would improve over the years. "Garp" is still really good, though. The only reason I'm not giving it five stars is because i read "A Prayer for Owen Meany" first. I suggest reading this before "Owen Meany". It's good enough to make you want to read more Irving, but you won't be dissappointed when you read "Owen Meany". So, buy this book and then when you want more, read "Owen Meany".
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Summary: The world according to Garp AND mum!
Review: This book was such good reading that I didn't want it to end. It's about a boy named Garp and basically, the world around him. How he handles things as he grows up. His mother, Jenny Fields, is a very strong character. The way she conceived Garp is very 'strange' as you'll see when you read the book but that's the way she wanted it. Garp is extremely close to his mother probably from not having a father figure except in his imagination from the stories Jenny told him about 'dad'. Anyway, the book is funny and sad, strange and normal. Take Jenny for example, Garp is a writer yet Jenny is the one who writes a best-selling book and because of the books content, she becomes a marked woman. The part I really liked was Jenny's house, which becomes a home for strays! She has people wandering all over the place. One person I was particularly fond of was Roberta (Robert) who used to be a basketball player, had a sex change and thus Roberta. There is also a group of women who live at Jenny's house called the Ellen James Group. This was very sad for me. Garp just can't understand these women and why they did what they did. Ellen James was raped and the rapist cut her tongue out obviously so that she couldn't talk and tell. So, this group of women cut THEIR tongues out thinking they are helping the cause when all along, Ellen James is distraught about these women who she doesn't even know, doing this act. I don't want to give too much of the story away. There are some very amusing parts of the book too. One involving a run-a-way plane and Garps NEARLY new house but you'll have to buy the book to find out about that. This is a page turning, gripping and very entertaining book. I recommend this book fully!
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Summary: Funny book. Good characters. You'll remember them.
Review: I like Irving because of Owen Meany. To me, this book is closest to the "feel" of O.M. out of all the other Irving that I've read. If you've read and enjoyed Irving, you'll like this one. If you haven't read anything by him, this is a pretty good place to start.
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