Rating: 
Summary: In Closing
Review: This is probably the last Irving book I'll review for a while because I've pretty much read them all until something new comes out. What I can tell you after reading 8 Irving novels, is that some are really good (Cider House Rules, World According to Garp), others are pretty bad (Prayer for Owen Meany, Fourth Hand), and still others are in between (Widow for One Year, Son of the Circus). Hotel New Hampshire I have to put in the third category of in between books.The best thing about the book is the cast of quirky characters essential to any Irving novel. The Berry family is a loving, oddball family of different personalities, which sometimes conflict, but for the most part work together in a sort of harmony as they grow up. The story follows their misadventures through three variations of the Hotel New Hampshire, one in the rundown town of Dairy, New Hampshire, one in Vienna, and the final one along the ocean in Maine. Like any Irving novel, you can see elements in past and future books. The way I think of it, Irving's books are all one house and for each novel, the author moves around the furniture a little bit so while it's the same house, it LOOKS slightly different to us readers. After eight novels, I'm used to the references to wrestling, prep schools, Vienna, and bears, though like anyone, I wish Irving would try to move beyond these elements sometimes. The main weakness of the book is the same as in Owen Meany, although not as pronounced. John the narrator is really a dull guy, who pretty much sits back and has things happen to him as opposed to going out and doing anything. As he says, he's the caretaker of the family, which also means he's not very interesting. However, he's not like John the narrator of the Owen Meany who's completely unlikeable. So, in closing, this is an enjoyable read and I recommend anyone who's liked some of Irving's other books take a look at this one. If you haven't read any other Irving novels, then I'd say to start with Cider House Rules and World According to Garp, then move on to Son of the Circus, Hotel New Hampshire, Widow for One Year, and Setting Free the Bears. Then at your own risk, try out Owen Meany and the Fourth Hand. And that, as Forrest Gump would say, is all I gotta say about that.
Rating: 
Summary: A Dive Into Irving's World
Review: With The Hotel New Hampshire John Irving wrote one of his best books and one of my personal favorites. Although in every book several themes return (we already read about rape, wrestling and Vienna in The World According to Garp and the transsexuals from this book can also be found in A Son Of The Circus and the bears... well, you got the point now, I suppose), every work of John Irving is original, surrealistic and moving. John Irving writes about people. And whether he writes about Owen Meany, Dhar or The Watermethod Man, he writes about life. All his characters are in a way eccentric and bizarre, but always understandable and just normal people. Irving describes their lives, their thoughts, their emotions and so tries to find the meaning and purpose of our own lives. Irving's books are in that way portraits, but not just portraits. It are portraits of colorful people, absurd, but still in a way being like us. We can see ourselves in the eyes of Irving's main characters. And that's, beside his wonderful writing style and humor, what I like about Irving and especially about "The Hotel New Hampshire" that's a fresh and imaginative dive in Irving's world and really worth reading!
Rating: 
Summary: A rare disappointment
Review: Having read and loved "Omen Meany," "Garp," "Son of the Circus," and "Cider House Rules," I was shocked and disappointed by this, John Irnving's most lurid, contrived, and depressing novel. The plots were implausible, the characters thinly realized, the themes repulsive and uncomfortable, and the point of the book entirely elusive. Every great writer is entitled a lemon, and this is certainly Irving's Edsel. Skip it and stick to the others, lest you momentarily lose faith in one of America's greatest contemporary novelists.
Rating:
Summary: John Irving at his worst is still very good
Review: I know that this is violating "reviewer guidelines," but the review that sparked this remark has done so to a much worse degree. Please do not read the review of Feb 4th titled "Good Lord" if you haven't read the book--the reviewer in his/her raging disappointment over the book has vehemently revealed just about every crucial plot turn of the book. Enough said! The Hotel New Hampshire is not one of John Irving's best, it's true. There really are some elements that seem a bit too contrived, some characters a little too one-dimensional. Irving has really pushed his usually phenomenal ability to make the fantastic and bizarre palatable. However, it still shines as a cut above average fiction. It still pulls you into the story, no matter how reluctant you may be to go there. Irvings trademark mixture of tragedy and slapstick humor is in full swing, and you find yourself wondering, "how can I be laughing at this? How can I be reading this? It's ridiculous!!" I say if you have read Irving before, it's not his best (Owen Meany and the The Water Method Man are top-notch), but I still say read it, you'll be glad--it's still John Irving. And if you haven't read this author, read it knowing that this is one of his lesser attempts, but still worth reading, as Irving at his worst is still one of the most talented writers I know
Rating: 
Summary: Irving At His Finest
Review: I don't presume that this review will do justice to the masterpeice that is the Hotel New Hampshire. The best I can say is that I enjoyed this book immensely, it was rich with themes, it was tragic and absurd, it was full of wonderful characters and situations. If you are a fan of Owen Meany and Garp, you will like this book. This book is Irving at his creative best. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: A rare disappointment
Review: Having read and loved "Omen Meany," "Garp," "Son of the Circus," and "Cider House Rules," I was shocked and disappointed by this, John Irnving's most lurid, contrived, and depressing novel. The plots were implausible, the characters thinly realized, the themes repulsive and uncomfortable, and the point of the book entirely elusive. Every great writer is entitled a lemon, and this is certainly Irving's Edsel. Skip it and stick to the others, lest you momentarily lose faith in one of America's greatest contemporary novelists.
Rating: 
Summary: disappointing
Review: After being very impressed with Owen Meaney, I am disappointed with Hotel New Hampshire. And the funny thing is, the same elements I loved about Owen Meaney are the reasons I barely finished Hotel. I get tired of the constant narrative foreshadowing - "it wasn't the last time Lilly would save us all," etc. Maybe it worked in Owen Meaney because there was a greater theme of fate/destiny, a terrible sense that we were moving toward the inevitable conclusion whether we want to or not. That theme is utterly missing in Hotel, and as a result, the foreshadowing is just annoying. I have a lot harder time buying some of the ridiculous elements in this story. I'm learning that making the ridiculous believable is a trademark of Irving's style, but, well, if I didn't believe it, then he didn't. A woman in a bear suit that people actually think is a bear? Have you ever seen a woman in a bear suit? It doesn't look anything like a bear. I get utterly sick of the heavy-handed "Sorrow floats" attempt at symbolism. It doesn't work for me at all. At all. And it seems like every time the narrative movement starts to slow down, the author kills someone off. How many people die in the course of 400 pages? The body count is in double-digits. At what point am I allowed to stop caring - or start expecting another death? This is an amateur author trick, one I won't let my students get away with. John Irving is a strong, talented writer, and I will keep reading his books, hoping to find more like Owen Meaney and less like this. He has a great gift for storytelling, if he can just keep it under control, and I think his forte is micro-scenes and logical folly. He writes good, lovable, warm characters (though he could stand to make them a bit more complex.) He flails around with symbolism and mysticism like a rookie writer in this book, but I am hoping that as he continues to write, he will wield that tool more deftly.
Rating:
Summary: A solid read
Review: This book, hot on the heels of the defining epoch of "The World According to Garp", isn't as great as its immediate predecessor, but it is a solid read nonetheless. Irving re-visits several themes from "Garp" in this book, among them Vienna, bears and rape. In spite of these familiarites, the book isn't weighed down by them, but added its own familiar dimension. Irving is a favorite of mine when I need to read a novel packed with out-of-the-ordinary events and weird characters. Check it out after reading "Garp".
Rating:
Summary: Okay Read
Review: Definitely not his best work. Maybe I'll re-read it in a couple years and find something I've missed. A Prayer for Owen Meany and A Widow for One Year are my favorites. Try those on for size.
Rating:
Summary: Words you feel rather than just see
Review: John Irving captured me the moment I set eyes on this book some twenty years ago and John Berry, Franny Berry and their family haven't let go. An elegent and funny story, The Hotel New Hampshire follows the lives of the Berry Family from a small New Hampshire town to post-Russian occupation Vienna and home again. As they grow, or in one case don't, they run across performing bears, football stars, blind Jewish hoteliers, marxist terrorists, prostitutes galore and enough personal tragedy to last any family a lifetime. Throughout they laugh, they love and they experience profound sorrow. You'll finish this book ready to read it again and again for it is never the same twice. Does Sorrow float? Should one keep passing the open windows? These question will float around your mind. John Irving has created the great American novel, without exception.
|
