I really enjoyed this book, just like all of Irving's books!

He has an amazing talent for creating imaginative stories that are not only entertaining but also tell a beautiful and complete life story.

The way he balances humor with seriousness in this book is truly remarkable.

The story takes you on a journey through the lives of the characters, making you laugh at their antics and feel for their struggles.

Irving's writing is so vivid and engaging that you can't help but get lost in the story.

Overall, this is another great book from Irving that I would highly recommend to anyone who loves a good story.

Whether you're looking for a lighthearted read or something more thought-provoking, this book has something for everyone.

So, if you haven't already, give it a try and see for yourself why Irving is such a beloved author.

Every time I pick up a serious literary novel, a question inevitably pops into my mind: what exactly is the author attempting to convey? Undoubtedly, he or she is weaving a story, but it surely must have a purpose. Otherwise, how could the reader remain engaged, not getting lost in a meandering narrative that leads nowhere?

In "The World According to Garp", at first glance, there seems to be no central theme or premise. The story leaps from one incident to another, some being fantastical, some hilarious, and others extremely disturbing. However, we keep turning the pages, because from the very first page (where Garp's mother Jenny Fields stabs a promiscuous soldier in a movie theatre with a scalpel), we are eager to know what unfolds next. As Jillsy Sloper remarks later in the novel:

'But you read it,' John Wolf said. 'Why'd you read it?'

'Lawd,' Jillsy said, as if she were sorry for John Wolf - that he was so hopelessly stupid. 'I sometimes wonder if you know the first thing about all these books you're makin',' she said; she shook her head. 'I sometimes wonder why
you're the one who's makin' the books and I'm the one who's cleanin' the bathrooms. Except I'd rather clean the bathrooms than read most of them,' Jillsy said. 'Lawd, Lawd.'

'If you hated it, why'd you read it, Jillsy? John Wolf asked her.

'Same reason I read anythin' for,' Jillsy said. 'To find out what happens.'

Indeed. John Irving has mastered the technique of all the great storytellers of the past - that of spinning an absorbing yarn that keeps his audience spellbound. It's just the experience. The interpretation can follow later.

***

And there can be countless interpretations if one delves deep into this tale with the eyes of a literary critic. Love, lust, pain, pleasure, feminism, gender issues, parenting... so many elements blend and merge together in both politically correct and incorrect ways. The association of sex with physical impairment begins when Jenny has sex with a brain-impaired sergeant to conceive Garp - because she desires only a baby and wants nothing to do with men. The theme of mutilation persists with Garp's ear being bitten off by a dog, which he later retaliates by biting off the dog's ear; until about two-thirds of the way through, we are presented with a scene of such distressing gore that a less proficient writer would have lost the audience there.

(Psychiatrists claim that the pain/pleasure centers of the brain are very close to each other, which is one of the reasons behind sadomasochism. In that sense, "The World According to Garp" reminds me of those posters of Hindu hell that were very common during my childhood - where the stark-naked "souls" were cut, sawed, and impaled in various ways. It was very frightening, but there was a certain element of sexual excitement to it.)

Garp's life is a juxtaposition of improbable events, much like the stories he writes. There is an underlying sense of dread in both his fictional world and the real one - the feeling of a monster lurking just behind the next blind corner, licking its lips in anticipation. Both Garp and Irving refer to it as the "Under Toad" - a distortion of the word undertow, as coined by a child. Garp's younger son Walt, when warned of the undertow in a creek that can pull him under, imagines it to be a monstrous toad that lies in wait beneath the still waters. As Garp's life progresses, it becomes a continuous battle against this boogeyman.

...in the world according to Garp, we are all terminal cases.

Five stars, without a doubt.

I think I might be far too young to truly appreciate this book. I've had this experience a few times before - reading a book and later realizing that I simply wasn't at the right age or stage of life to fully understand it. Take Kerouac's On the Road, for example. I read it in 7th grade and thought it was completely dumb. At that time, everything seemed so black and white - drugs were bad, you shouldn't like bad people, and I had a clear idea of what I was going to be when I grew up. However, when I re-read it near the end of college, with no clue about what I was going to do with my life and a bit more understanding of certain things like drugs, I absolutely loved it. It was kind of comforting to see people making an even bigger mess of their lives than I was.

Anyway, let's talk about Garp. I don't think you can really get the full essence of this book until you've gone through some of the life experiences that are described here. I'm newly married and don't have any children yet, so I don't understand the complacency that can come with a long-term partnership or the constant fear of worrying about your kids. The best example of the maturity level needed can be seen near the beginning of Garp's marriage. Irving goes on and on about how much Garp loves his wife and then states, "In the first five years of their marriage, Garp was only unfaithful once." Now, to someone who has been married for less than a year, that sentence might bring to mind images of hellfire, violence, and a messy divorce. However, I imagine that after thirty years of marriage, if you find out that twenty-five years ago your young and stupid spouse did something really idiotic, it's more of a situation that might call for a kick in the nuts (or maybe two) rather than vehicular homicide.

The point is, I feel that this work is far inferior to The Cider House Rules and, of course, A Prayer for Owen Meany. However, I'm sure I'll revisit it after Daniel and I have had some really intense screaming matches and I've stayed up all night because Baby Buck sniffled once nine hours ago.

"Mind you, it's awfully well written," Wolf had said. "But it's still, somehow, soap opera; it's too much, somehow." Garp had sighed. "Life," Garp had said, "is too much, somehow. Life is an X-rated soap opera, John," Garp had said.

The world according to Garp is indeed very much like a soap opera. It is filled with a plethora of situations and incidents that are not commonly witnessed in our ordinary real lives. The world surrounding Garp is rife with craziness and absurdity. On numerous occasions, Irving comes perilously close to veering into the realm of the unrealistic. However, even though many of his stories seem far-fetched, they remain possible within the framework of the universe's rules. Despite all the zaniness, Irving astonishingly manages to maintain remarkable control over the narrative. And, against all odds, the novel still bears a great resemblance to real life. The fears and concerns of the characters, the emotions that drive them, are indistinguishable from our own. Irving takes the reader on a journey that spans from boundless happiness to profound sorrow, from love to hatred, and encompasses all the diverse range of emotions that real people experience in their actual lives. As an added bonus to all that this novel has to offer, it is also great fun to read. It is, in essence, an entertaining soap opera.

This was such a looooong journey! But in the end, I still feel happy that I even went on this journey at all! Almost half a year ago or a bit more, there was an article on the Lagunin website where one had to choose a number and at some point in life read the book hidden behind that number. Or maybe it was about in which month you were born, I don't really remember. Well, I got "The World According to Garp". For my birthday, I received this book from my parents and in early October, I dedicated myself to it.

Normally, when you embark on a book that is more extensive, there is always the fear of whether that book will be good and worth it (as the ratings on GoodReads say). I started slowly and already on the first pages, I realized that this would be a, let's say, special book. I think that Jenny Fields would be offended if I said that she was unusual, so I will say that she was a very characteristic person who deviated from all the people of that time. She had some of her own visions and positions that she firmly adhered to. The whole book is actually about Garp - from his conception to his death (it's not a spoiler because even before the first chapter, there is content in which the title of the last chapter reveals that he will die).

And Garp himself, grows up in a strange way and becomes a very thinking writer. Here, that moment is very interesting because as a lover of books, I could see what happens to a writer who has lost the thread for writing and what he does in those moments. Regardless of that, I could say that this is a story about one life, one human being that is completely exposed to the maximum. Human emotions are given accurately, but also the mistakes that the heroes of this story make. There is also fun, madness, desire, sex, jealousy, quarrels, impatience...

In the time when it was first published in 1976, I assume that it was perhaps a bit shocking. Actually, when you look at it a little better, there is nothing shocking in it today. The theme of feminism, women's rights, the position on gender change, various groups, etc. are also present here. It can be said that the themes of the novel are very relevant even today, only that there are no mobile phones in them.

However, someone may perhaps find fault that the plot progresses slowly, that there are a lot of details, that there are too many descriptions, etc. At moments, I did think that the author could have shortened some things. And then again, somehow it all made sense in the end and everything was integrated into one big whole. There are no characters who are poorly written. They are all well-developed, diverse, and exciting. Simply, this is one life story of one person, and life has different phases and is not always exciting, but every story is worth mentioning.

Spoilers ahead. You've been warned.

So, apparently, this is supposed to be funny. Which I didn't know way back when I read this. Thankfully, or I'd've been scratching my head even more than I already was at the time. Imagine my surprise though when, years later, I heard this described as a hilarious book.

Oh John Irving. You are such a twisted man. Your works are filled with the description of twisted sex and violence among twisted characters, which are clearly very thinly veiled versions of yourself. I truly hate you. The only reason I managed to finish your book is that I have an obsessive-compulsive trait of always finishing things.

But perhaps I did this in the wrong order. I read A Widow for One Year first and then The World According to Garp. I think most people do it the other way around. So all the issues covered in Widow seemed like rehashed or re-covered versions to me, or basically more of the same. There is the struggling writer (whose crappy stories we are forced to read), his explicit sexual needs and fetishes (I know I may sound prudish, but seriously, one of the major themes is Man's Uncontrollable Lust and How It Hurts Ladies), his marital problems, and then, very graphically, the Terrible Things That Happen to His Kids. In Widow, the kids are actually killed before the start of the book and the whole book is about the main characters dealing with the tragedy. In Garp, the story just keeps going and going. And then you're like: Okay, John Irving. You have just spent the last 2 pages explaining your main character's fears that something will happen to his family and also that the car is malfunctioning in an odd way. I can't imagine what will happen next. And then it does. And then it does some more. And then the book continues for like 1000 more pages. Damn, this book was really annoying.

However, there are some good parts. All the stuff about Garp's mom, Jenny. She is a complex and well-painted psychological portrait. (To be fair, I guess Garp himself is too - but he's a complex and well-painted psychological portrait of John Irving... which I find rather boring.) Jenny, on the other hand, is written to be an odd duck, and it's quite interesting to watch John Irving use her as a tool to discuss the early feminist movement. I really wish the whole book were about her.

Continuing on with my reviews of Books and Authors That I Loved But Haven't Read in a While and Need to Revisit, I come across a book that I simply can't recall when I first read it. I think my initial encounter might have been in the mid- to late-80s. However, this doesn't seem right as I would have been in middle school at that time, and the subject matter of the book is far too mature for a middle-schooler. Then again, I remember reading Stephen King's "It" for the first time in 7th or 8th grade.

Regardless, John Irving's "The World According to Garp" was a crucial book in my reading growth. Firstly, it introduced me to Irving, leading me to embark on a journey of desiring to read every single one of his works.

Written in 1978, "Garp" is an epic comedy-drama that chronicles the life of a young man named Garp, who is raised by a militant feminist mother (at least by 1978 standards). The story follows Garp's adventures and misadventures in his social and sexual development.

This book was significant for two main reasons. Firstly, it shaped my own feminist ideology. Secondly, it created a life-long pathological fear of blow jobs (those who have read this novel will understand precisely what I mean...). The 1982 film adaptation starring Robin Williams is a somewhat overlooked film gem. Although it was good, it was definitely not as good as the book. To be fair, though, few if any movies can surpass the original books.

27/08/2023 (****)

One of the strangest and most particular novels that I have ever read.

The book tells the unpredictable life of T.S. Garp, who will become a famous writer, and the very strange collection of relatives and acquaintances who have accompanied his life.

Said like this, it would seem a tragicomic, ironic, surreal work - in the style of Slaughterhouse-Five, so to speak.

However, the only adjective among those mentioned above that fits the novel like a glove is instead surreal; for the rest, it is a disorderly and chaotic, but at the same time well-written and moving, encounter on the violent, bigoted and (some would say) patriarchal America of the post-war years that, not very slowly, transforms into the tumultuous sixties of the sexual revolution.

Here, the novel is above all this: an analysis on sex and the ways in which individuals and society as a whole experience it, in its various meanings - in its mean and sordid libidinous baseness and of mere uncontrollable impulse as well as in its grandeur, of generous impulse towards the beloved partner and of fundamental building block of life and society.

Fundamental, but not preponderant. Almost all the narration of the figure of the adult (and adolescent) Garp focuses mainly there, as well as on the will to become a famous and admired writer. The whole works quite well, I would say up to three-quarters of the book, when Irving in my opinion loses a bit of his compass, and from Garp and his family the story expands touching on ever broader themes, absorbing them within the plot, in a mixture and abundance of themes that seemed excessive to me.

The book is pervaded by a remarkable black humor and a vein of cynicism that however do not marry well with the account of Garp's and his family's life, marked by such a number of dramatic events and conflicts that no normal person in this world would bear while maintaining intact the underlying irony that characterizes the book from the first to the last page. The characters are remarkable, but too unrealistic to be real. A similar speech can be made about the whole novel and its plot, which continuously oscillates in a blatant way between pure fiction and crude reality, confusing the reader.

The rest is mainly anxiety (of performance - in all senses), misunderstanding (especially between the sexes), disappointment, told well and in such a way as to make you feel sorry for the protagonists and their troubles.

Among the pros, the novel is very well written and - apart from episodes, descriptions and parts that are frankly useless and pleonastic - very enjoyable to read.

If you think of picking up something like Slaughterhouse-Five or like certain writings of Vonnegut, know that you are picking up the wrong book; but in any case you would be making a mistake for a good cause.

The book is worth reading and the protagonists, in their surreal way of being, will enter your heart.

I truly relished this particular work.

John Irving has a remarkable talent for creating characters who vocalize their thoughts on the prevailing political trends. What's truly astonishing is that these themes remain highly relevant even to this day.

The diverse character arcs are developed in a way that is both surreal and yet so real that it effectively evokes their significance and the profound impacts they have on their immediate surroundings.

The contrast between Jenny being slain by a man who despises women and Garp being killed by a woman who loathes men truly speaks volumes about the poignancy and piquancy of the stories.

It has now become my new favorite. Irving is indeed a master at writing literary fiction with robust character development. I must admit that it is a rather long read, and the first chapter might prove to be a deterrent for some. However, this is Irving's distinct style, and it is precisely this style that reverberates with authenticity and relevance.

If all of Irving's works were like this, I would be a very happy person.

"The World According to Garp" is a touching, educational, emotional, and intelligent bildungsroman. From the first pages, it drew me in and didn't let me go until the very end to such an extent that I had the feeling that T.S. Garp was a distant relative of mine about whom stories were passed down from generation to generation, from continent to continent.

The additional greatness of the novel is reflected in the amazing "secondary" characters. The only reason I call them secondary is because the work does not bear their names. They are all richly developed, their lives and motives are clear (or at least logical) and fit perfectly into each of Garp's eras: not as consequences, not as causes, but as their integral parts.

I cried, laughed, was left speechless, and cheered. This is the world according to Garp, but a world for all.

I had heard so much positive feedback about this book. It was even on my 'Books to Read Before I Die' list.

Well, unfortunately, I will die having only read half of it. I kept reading, I guess, because of how great it was supposed to be. I mean, it's John Irving! But as I got to the halfway point, I thought, "Where is this going?!" And then I realized that I really didn't care. So I put it down. Page after page, I finally came to the realization that there wasn't enough of a story or plot to get me to turn another page.

'So many books, too little time.' It's a shame that this book didn't live up to my expectations. Maybe I'll give it another try someday, but for now, I'm moving on to other books on my list.