Made it to Ch 8 and realized I had no clue what was going on and that I didn't really care. I don't often quit a book, but this one is going on my "try again some other time" shelf.

The second book by Irving is a stumbling step forward (from Setting Free the Bears), but this is still for completistst only I think. Sex-obsessed and way to bizarro to be a truly enjoyable read.

My favourite book of all times, I want to give it as many stars as there are in the sky, five is so not enough!
Written in Irvings beginnings, it's extraordinarily fresh, incredibly funny and deeply moving simultaneously, as has become Irvings trademark (not so much lately, he's getting older but not wiser, alas).

I've read it many times now (5?) and it never gets boring. It is a deeply humane book, full of understanding and love for the people in it and their failures.
Beautifully imagined characters, even the minor ones. I almost took up Old Low Norse!
Irving had a great sense of slapstick in his early books, but I believe it's honed to perfection in the story of Akthelt and Gunnel, the protagonist's bogus thesis in progress.

It doesn't have the gravitas of his later work, where he combines so skilfully comedy with tragedy, as in Garp or Widow for one Year, but it compensates with freshness. And as in many of his novels, I found my tears of merriment transformed in real crying in the course of one sentence.
I find nobody does that so well as Irving.

This is one of his earlier books, and it is amazingly written. The first sentence alone still makes me shake my head in wonder.

this book is so unique in that it's absolutely not what you would expect from john irving. It's only his second or third book, and you can see the beginnings of Garp in it, but it's so simple and streamlined compared to some of his later work. It's a sweet, funny story with extremely memorable characters - in fact, I can't believe it hasn't been made into a movie yet. I think it's crying out to be. A movie about a book about the making of a movie.
Also, it made me start going around flipping my tit at people who are full of it, and eating lots of yogurt.

Well, as the saying goes: 3 strikes and you're out. This was my third novel by Irving and it did nothing for me. Less horrible than the other two I read, but I guess his writing style is just not for me.

Okay, keep in mind that I’m a big Irving fan. This book is well worth reading if only because the characters here will grow into those of The World According to Garp and several other Irving novels. The themes of friendship, what makes a family, and what is marriage today will pop up again and again in his work. His obsession with sex shines through here. He uses the technique of stories within stories here, which he also uses in many other of his books, and the plot, the places, and the people are all quite weird, though loveable. I’ve heard Irving compared to Dickins. I can see that in his characters, but I like his funny plots much better than Dickins.


This is the story of Fred “Bogus” Trumper and we find out from the very beginning that his nickname is quite appropriate. Bogus is writing a dissertation involving the translation of an ancient poem but he’s bored with the drudgery of translation, so he simply makes up the story. This isn’t unusual behavior for Bogus; he lies about everything and to everyone.


But Bogus wants to change. He wants to be a good man, but he simply can’t.


So the book tells the story of Fred’s efforts to stop being Bogus. The sprawling plot moves well with only minor hiccups. Bogus and a few of the minor characters like his male friends, his girlfriend, and his wife, are well developed. Bogus changes over the course of the book, though maybe not always in ways or by means we would expect. There are many different settings in the book. Some are well drawn, like the mansion where Bogus’ friend serves as caretaker. Others, like all the European settings, are much less well developed.


I enjoyed this book, but I AM a fan. Give it a try, then move on to Garp then, if you’re hooked, roll on through Owen Meany and the Cider House. If you’re really hooked, there are plenty more Irving books. Some are great, some are good, a very few are bad. He implies that the book he published last year, The Last Chairlift will be his last. I hope that isn’t true.

What does the low Norse language, a UTI, and Salzburg, Austria have in common? After nearly 400 pages I have no idea, either!
John Irving is one of my absolute favorite authors, but this is a super early work of his (that predates my birth year), and I’m so glad he has grown as a writer. I felt that this was written as complete stream of consciousness, and toggled between past and present throughout the plot. I normally don’t mind that format, but going from a urologist office to a brothel in Austria, well…..I just couldn’t wrap my brain around it. I will say that Irving has always had a knack for quirky characters and character naming, and this does not disappoint in that regard.

I have read 10 of Irving’s novels but I missed some along the way. The Water-Method Man is his second novel and is as excellent as all the others I have read. I think readers either love Irving or dislike him. I love his books, each and every one I have read. Astonishingly, he is as good as he gets in even this second one.

Fred Bogus Trumper, whose friends call him Bogus, has been a graduate student at Iowa for longer than he should be. He has a wife, a son, and a girlfriend. He also has a birth defect in his urinary tract. So there you have pretty much all the Irving ingredients: family, marriage, friends and medical issues. Bogus is as weird as Owen Meany, as anxious as Garp. He bumbles though daily life with less than optimum results but as a reader I never thought of giving up on him.

Another aspect of John Irving’s novels that pleases me is the way his main characters manage by the end of each tale, to turn their weaknesses into a livable life. I like that idea because usually we are taught that we must overcome our weaknesses if we want to be happy, rich, successful, etc. Fred Bogus Trumper just keeps on with his life, his aspirations, and his talents and comes out fine, though neither he nor the reader nor his wife nor his girlfriend thought he ever could.

This is the John Irving book I am most likely to reread.

i want to read this because the main character has frequent urinary tract infections. but i cannot get into it.

A few year ago John Irving spoke at an author event in Toronto. As I had hoped, he was open, honest and engaging. Although he was discussing his latest novel at that time some discussion centred around The Water-Method Man, a novel that was published at the beginning of his career, a book I had never read or even knew existed. Having finally read it, what I discovered is that I should not have wasted my time, I love the John Irving starting with The World According To Garp and his subsequent novels. I certainly did not enjoy the character arc, the plot and the pacing of The Water-Method Man. Even back in the late 60’s and early 70’s Irving was a good writer but he became a much better writer in his later novels. The Water-Method Man is not a novel I can recommend but I know there are lots of people who would find that book humourous. I didn’t. I also did not enjoy the characters or the plot.