As far as books by John Irving, I thought this was somewhat more tedious than Garp or Meany, but a far cry more fun to read than setting free the bears. The changes in point of view and the timeline were a little off putting but the story as a whole is cohesive and interesting. Bogus has an arc that is fun to ride along with.

This is only the second John Irving I've read, the other being The World According to Garp and of course I loved that. I was looking for either this book or the The 158-Pound Marriage and found this one first.

It was okay, I enjoyed it most of the time. I liked the characters but felt they lacked depth. Fred "Bogus" Trumper was kinda an asshole to the people around him. I liked Ralph, Couth, Merrill (even thought he's in like what 3 chapters and the rest of the chapters Bogus is looking for him). Maybe this went right over my head, it probably did. The way it jumped around in time didn't really bother me in fact I was curious to find the details of what had happened. There were things that did have me laughing.

It's just an okay book, I think it lacked character depth for me Trumper as Tulpen would say "is just a surface".

John Irving’s characters almost always grab me, this book was no exception. But the narrative rambled in parts and I was forced to read impatiently, anxious to get through to something I could enjoy.

Halusin lukea ensimmäisen Irvingini ja tämä kirja valikoitui luettavaksi lähinnä nimen perusteella: olen itse horoskoopiltani Vesimies (ja tiedän/tiesin kyllä, ettei tällä kirjalla ole mitään tekemistä horoskooppimerkkien kanssa). En ole kovin vaikuttunut...

Trumper hahmona oli sympaattinen: hänelle sattui ja tapahtui - lähinnä kiusallisia ja ikäviä asioita. Myös kirjan huumori pisti välillä hymyilemään ja jopa naurahtamaan ääneen.

Mutta... en pitänyt kirjoitustyylistä, joka hyppi ja rönsyili liikaa. Välillä elettiin aikaa, jolloin Trumper oli naimisissa Biggien kanssa, kun taas välillä kuvattiin hänen seurusteluaan Tulpenin kanssa. Nämä sijoittuvat selvästi eri aikaan, mutta siitä ei ollut mitään selvää mainintaa - piti siis itse koettaa pätellä, että mitä tapahtuu milloinkin. En tiedä, olisinko saanut kirjasta enemmän irti, jos olisin lukenut sen hitaammin, makustellen. Nyt vain tuntui, ettei kirjalla ollut mitään selkeää juonta ja se pomppi vähän joka suuntaan: haukkasi palan sieltä ja palan täältä, pureskelematta mitään kunnolla.

Moni tuntuu pitävän John Irvingin tuotannosta ja kyllä tavallaan ymmärrän, että miksi. Itse vain en olikein lämmennyt. Haluan silti antaa hänelle vielä toisenkin mahdollisuuden joskus ja esimerkiksi Garpin maailman aion lukea tulevaisuudessa. Mutta en todellakaan ihan heti.

3 stars is maybe generous because I really did struggle to get into and stay with this book. It was the weirdest John Irving I've read. The plot jumped around a lot and Trumper was fairly unsympathetic. But then there were a lot of lovely bits with him and Colm, and I really liked Biggie. It was more ridiculous than funny maybe. Did I miss something? I could definitely have done without the side plot of Old Norse. Overall the book, and Trumper, grew on me though.

Slow, mundane, boring, eh. I wasted my time reading it. Oh well, at least I didn't spend my money on it as it was a library find and the library only had 40 books in English, haha.

Don't punish yourself if you can't get through the book, it really is a terrible read.

Irving isn't listed anywhere (I can find) as one of David Foster Wallace's influences, and that's probably with good reason. However, the novel my mind kept going back to while reading The Water-Method Man was Wallace's masterfully flawed The Broom of the System. Both early works (in DFW's case very early) by authors who would go on to become iconic in American fiction. Both novels also feature wonderfully zany casts of characters, stories within stories, and set pieces so absurdly awkward you can't help but smile through the horror. The skiing scene in this book is probably the funniest thing I have read in years, that alone is worth the price of admission.

By far the book i had the most fun reading, definitely a hilarious story of a random literature student.
Through this satirical work Irving places a lot of introspection by using the narrator; Introspections that are mostly around the theme of life it's various challenges, the most common being relationships and one's idea of success.

Další skvělý Irving. Ke konci sice ztrácel dech, ale dobrá první půlka byla moc příjemná a hodněkrát jsem se pořádně zasmál. Občas jsem se mírně ztratil v ději kvůli nechronologickému stylu vyprávění, ale to mohlo být způsobené i tím, že jsem knihu četl celkem dlouho na to, jak je nepříliš dlouhá.

Much like _The World According To Garp_, this book contains a lot of hilarious scenes, absurdity, brilliant quips and comments. These all help offset the fact you're reading a story about a character who is a self-absorbed a**hole, and there are some painfully human situations. Over time I've come to appreciate all of us contain multitudes, so I couldn't be too critical.

The afterword for this book is actually written about Irving's first three novels but it does describe what Irving captures in all of his work: humor in the face of adversity and the absurd.

Recommended if you're already John Irving fan.

the third time i've read this. read it because John Irvins is coming out with The Last Chairlift this month and i heard that that book is some sort of throwback to this one - no idea if this is true, cause i can't find it where i read it. but it's a good a reason as any to re read JI.

some of the things i somehow think i missed the first time around: wow this book is not subtle with using the main character's penis trouble as a metaphor for becoming a man - made me think a lot of Freud. i think it's funny how people nowadays will go on about young people being directionless and in debt right out of college as a modern ailment, when this book is largely about that. though there is a scene that the Trumper's father gives him 5k and it helps him figure stuff out. 5k today would pay about two months worth of rent. maybe. the structure of this book is by far its weakest point. a bit of a mess.

Ein Buch das ich nicht beendet habe. Endlos-Nabelschau eines empfindlichen Mannes der an seiner deplatzierten Hybris erstickt. Auch für die Nebenfiguren kommt dank Irvings Stil kaum Empathie oder wenigstens Interesse auf. Vom Urologen einmal abgesehen.