El mundo según Garp

I can't seem to finish this book. There is a particular character that is really bothering me. I'm not quite sure what to call it - is it a trait, a habit, or perhaps even a form of depravity?

Every time this character appears in the story, it's like a dark cloud passing over. Their actions and behaviors are so off-putting that it makes it difficult for me to engage with the rest of the narrative.

I find myself constantly distracted by this character, and it's affecting my overall enjoyment of the book. I keep wondering why the author would create such a disagreeable character and what purpose they serve in the story.

Maybe I'm being too sensitive, but this character is really getting under my skin. I hope that as I continue reading, there will be some sort of redemption or explanation for their actions that will make me view them in a different light. Otherwise, I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it to the end of this book.

You know,

Everybody dies.

My parents died.

Your father died.

Everybody dies.

I'm going to die too.

So will you.

The thing is,

To have a life before we die.

It can be a real adventure having a life.

We should cherish every moment, explore new places, meet new people, and try new things.

Don't be afraid of failure or mistakes.

Learn from them and grow.

Make memories that will last a lifetime.

Because when we look back on our lives,

We want to be able to say that we lived to the fullest.

The World According to Garp by John Irving is an absolute gem.

I have an unwavering love for John Irving's work. His unique style of storytelling truly appeals to me, and this particular novel ranks near the very top of his collection.

Jenny Fields is a remarkable feminist figure, a true winner. Her son, T.S. Garp, stumbles through life, constantly striving to keep up with her.

As we embark on this literary journey, we are presented with a smorgasbord of wonder and diverse sexual ideas. It forces us to question our own beliefs and stand in solidarity with women who have been wronged, yearning to set things right.

Jenny is like a monument, and Garp follows closely in her footsteps. To truly appreciate this book, one must approach it with an open heart and mind.

All too often, readers sit down with a cold heart, determined not to be challenged. In such a mindset, the book is likely to receive only 1 or maybe 2 stars from the reader.

However, for those who are ready to embrace new horizons, this book has the power to make them grow and discover new meaning. For me, it is a well-written and thoroughly enjoyable read. So, be open and savor every page.

Although the part of the story can be a bit heavy, I really love this book and I never get tired of recommending it.

This book has a unique charm that attracts me deeply. The plot is engaging and full of twists and turns, making it impossible to put down once you start reading.

The characters are well-developed and vivid, each with their own personalities and backstories. You can really feel their emotions and experiences as you follow their journey through the book.

Despite the heaviness in some parts, the book also has moments of hope and inspiration. It makes you think about life, love, and the human condition in a profound way.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good read. It is a book that will stay with you long after you have finished reading it.

I went through an extended period in my life where I re-read this book every year.

It's a very fun read.

You can approach it from multiple perspectives. You can read it as a character study, observing how Garp evolves as he ages and his responsibilities grow.

You can also read it as an analysis of the writer's experience, with the bits about Garp's writing being particularly excellent, especially the chapter of Garp's book The World According to Benzenhurt.

Or you can view it as a story about his relationships, mainly with women such as his mother, his wife Helen, his transgendered friend Roberta, and his many indiscretions along the way.

I first read it as a book about feminism, with my mother asking if it was a pro-feminist or anti-feminist book. Well, it was the early 80s.

That isn't the best way to read Garp, as it has some nasty presuppositions. But I decided it was pro-feminist, though not everyone agrees. At its core, it's mostly anti-extremes. Garp spends his life trying to break free from extremism. His mother embraces it to define herself, while he fears his own sexual and artistic urges could overshadow everything else in his life.

It isn't a heady or overly intellectual book.

From a writing standpoint, Garp does some interesting and risky things. It tells a person's story from conception to death, rather than skipping to the highlights. It switches focus from Garp's mother to Garp himself, leaving the protagonist dangling, yet it's done so well that we hardly notice. And two-thirds of the way through, it takes an extended break to read an engrossing chapter from one of Garp's books, making the entirety of Garp's life a frame story for that chapter and, in a sense, for his writing.

So, consider that last part. Garp is a frame around his writing, and that writing culminates in that chapter, condensing his whole understanding of his life. But what is that chapter? We could debate that longer than we would about Garp's overall meaning. And Garp makes us ask ourselves the question: can a writer's life be summed up in his writing, or does that miss something important?

When you reach the last line, pay attention. If you find it sad, remember that he was a father and a writer who connected with many people, both pleasantly and unpleasantly. Then re-read the line again.

It truly bears re-reading.

I also re-read Little Women annually, usually right before or after Garp. I don't know what the connection between the two is.

Irving likes this technique of telling a story from start to finish. When it's handled well, it's extremely effective. If you like it, check out The Ass Saw the Angel by Nick Cave.

Right from the opening chapter, there is a lot of talk of masturbation and inappropriate erections.

What was I getting into? The world that Garp inhabits is a strange and wonderful one, full of rich and peculiar characters and absurd situations.

The more I delved into it, the more I was enticed by the world of Garp. I loved some parts of this more than others, but what I loved, I really loved.

What kind of man is John Irving to write such an interesting book and character with such groundbreaking issues?

This book really has so much to offer. Garp is full of contradictions and inner turmoil. As the son of a leading feminist mother, he enters this world under questionable methods.

Garp was always destined for an interesting life. Such diverse characters bring so many social issues to the fore. There is so much covered and artfully written.

How can you go past a book that thrusts rape, mutilation, feminism, sexuality, transgenders, and depression, and still entertains with humour?

Garp having a prominent feminist mother conflicts with his own ideas of masculinity and gender identity, bringing tumult and acute anxiety to his world.

Garp is a multilayered and complex character, often portraying the internal processes of a tortured writer, causing the omnipresent Under Toad to lurk beneath the surface.

This book is a wonder. On one hand, it's depressing as hell. There is death (a lot of death), and references of rape are a recurring theme.

But amongst all the heaviness and serious issues, what it's best at is finding the flaws but also embracing the eccentricities. These are the people that colour Garp's world, and it's a joy to behold.

There are some authors who are little read or have fallen into oblivion, who are not trendy, John Irving for example.

Nevertheless, his output is quantitatively speaking fertile, and also worthy from a qualitative point of view, in my humble opinion.

John Irving is above all an unmistakable author. I believe that recognizability - and note that it's not about repeating oneself - but having a peculiar stylistic signature is a remarkable virtue for an author. In fact, his writing is recognizable. Perhaps it happens with every author, but Irving has a way of telling stories and creating fiction that undoubtedly leads back to him.

You could, for fun, open one of his novels at random, start reading a sentence in the middle of a page and immediately know who the author is, like a newborn who can hardly see around but knows how to recognize, among a thousand breasts, that one breast of the mother, or like when from a distance you recognize a dear person just by the way they walk, by their typical gait, those straight shoulders or a little hunched, that lively or dull limp, how the arms are let go or the head that bends to one side.

Another merit of Irving is knowing how to construct stories or, better yet, knowing how to sketch out characters who remain for a long time, I would say forever, engraved in the heart.

Garp, for example, or Owen in A Prayer for Owen Meany, or even the strange family in The Hotel New Hampshire, characters who have a shine that remains bright in the memories, never fading.

And yet Irving's novels are not perfect nor without flaws. They are often too long and alternate parts that tear your heart out, make you burst out laughing, and parts that it would be hygienic to skip.

But he is a master in handling the tragic and the comic with a sense of surreal lightness. For example, he manages to make the death of his characters funny, as if it were an event, one of the many that dot life and not the Event, because yes, in short, we must say that his characters die a lot in his novels, perhaps even too much and the tear and the smile continuously vie for the page.

Going back to the book The World According to Garp, it is the story of Garp, of his original mother, an icon malgré herself of the most militant and harmful feminism; it is the story of Garp's family - wife, children, attached and related lovers - and it is also the story of the struggle to be writers (yes, Garp is a writer), of how to reconcile writing with family life, of the elusive muse that is there and not there and that when it lurks must be chased like a hare by a hunting dog.

But in the novel, important themes are also touched upon - rape, the emancipation of women, the care of children, their overprotection which then doesn't serve to save them.

Garp is an eccentric, but not too much. He has a specific vision of the world, precisely the world according to Garp, but he is a very upright and methodical young man whose edges almost never smooth out. He fixes certain markers in his life and doesn't move them, rarely surpasses them, but Garp is also fundamentally a good person, and Irving's good people are never cheesy, they are real good people, I don't know how to say it.

I also read somewhere that there is a lot of sex in the book. That's not exactly the case, in fact it's not the case at all, although a non-romantic but almost grotesque and perverse sex, represented by a particular fact that will astonish very much those who read it, ends up having an important role in the economy of the story.

The first time I read a book, its 600 pages seemed like 1000. And although at first it started off with a breeze, and I thought, yes – everything is just as I like it: feminism, bars, strange characters, and an old-fashioned school. But then, when the parts that are typical for Irving, like "I write about the same 7 themes", started, I suffered from a palpable déjà vu – especially with "Stay Here for a Year". Because there are prostitutes, an accident, children, unhappy marriages, and... And there are also books within the book. It bugs me that I don't like books within books. Of course, it's very clever, there's a lot of editorial finesse, a lot of nuances that are known and a lot of common humanity, but in the end, the abundance of text defiled the essence. It defiled the interesting characters and their interesting lives, it defiled their fates and it defiled my need to know what happens next. And the amount of horror and terror is so dense that it's like, oh, did he die? Well, of course he died. Oh, did he escape? Well, of course he did, how else.

Therefore, although the story is completely to my taste and often the text surprised me anew, then Garp's book excerpts or similar things started and I got bored again. In addition, I started reading the Lithuanian version and after about 20 pages I switched to the English one – it was much better. Especially when Irving loves to play with language so much, I felt a huge difference. In the books translated by Daugirdienė, that difference wasn't so obvious, but because of Garp – it's worth keeping in mind. And although I don't regret getting to know it, I feel exhausted. I didn't feel that way with "The World According to Garp" or "Stay Here for a Year".