This book left behind a very strange aftertaste. On the one hand, I read the book with great interest, although I was initially afraid that I might lose this interest, but every evening I started reading with the thought: “So, what happened to Garp next?” It’s amazing that the author managed to write every stage of Garp’s life from conception to death so that the interest did not fade. It felt like I was reading not one book, but several books, a family saga consisting of many parts. The heroes all became like my relatives, their characters were well spelled out and understood. The author leaves very unusual tips and Easter eggs, hinting to us what will happen in the future, sometimes it happens in the form of dreams, sometimes parallels are in Garp’s works, in seemingly accidentally abandoned phrases. The book pays a lot of attention to sex, or rather sex here becomes the trigger for all the events that happen. Even the heroes themselves do not realise how much their life depends on sex. It all starts with the story of asexual Jenny Fields, whose life sex breaks into in one way or another, even though she would like to avoid it with all her might. The obsession with sex affects Jenny’s views, affects the behaviour of Garp the Elder, which eventually gives life to Garp. Garp’s first sexual experience, strangely enough, has a significant impact on his future, he will come to him after many years. Garp’s sexual adventures become the basis for his books. The book written by Jenny is perceived as a feminist manifesto. Jamesians appear as a result of rape. Helen’s sexual adventures are the impetus for even more tragic consequences. In general, everything in the book revolves around sex in one way or another. And the sex itself seems to be a completely normal, healthy and pleasant thing. But people’s attitude to him, their obsession with sex or vice versa his denial, increased attention to issues related to him, seems to be the root of all troubles. It’s like the most painful and unnatural attitude to the natural human need. In general, the book pays a lot of attention to asexuals, transgender people, treason, violence, feminism. All this is questioned, rejected, accepted, and then in a circle. All this generates waves of anger that sweep away everything in its path. And so I finished this brick, I look at it and think - what is the meaning of his work? It’s like everything’s about nothing, it’s not leading to anything. It’s on the one hand. And on the other... As if everything here leads to the need to treat people more tolerantly, to accept them as they are. Again, this is not the key to success, many people who demand understanding, as if they revel in the fact that they do not get this understanding, and if they do, it is not at all what they wanted, which gives rise to a new wave of disagreements. Everything here is very ambiguous, as in life. While my attitude to this work and John Irving remains ambiguous, I probably need more time to digest what I have read, think about everything properly, get acquainted with the author’s other books, so I’ll do it. Harp had no chance to resist comparisons with the creative and life path of the mother sun, but in the homoness of inexorable critics, he still found his face, his voice, his name, gradually overcoming the path from the inventor to the realist, slashing out the grief on paper, and back... And, perhaps, before others, he realised that people often make unjustified conclusions and bear almost no responsibility for it. In my eyes, Garp grew up as a man and as a writer. I saw him as a very young boy engaged in wrestling and in love with the coach’s well-read daughter; and overcoming the strange attachment to the ageing prostitute of young men, who learned from personal experience that the time of human life is a moment; and a husband-householder, always dissatisfied with himself, his inability to resist from carnal desires, and experiencing the anxiety of fatherhood, when the paranoid imagination fuels the fear for his child. Harp gained, but also lost. Often through its own fault. Only sometimes the price of the mistake is prohibitively high, and you can’t guess from which side the Under Toad will appear. I was indignant at the betrayal of Garp (and Helen), crooked at their strange, morally-bound attempt to save the marriage of friends, but I did not get tired of being surprised at the writer’s sanity. In the eternal debate about feminism and its radical manifestations, I was on the side of Garp every time, because, like him, I do not tolerate when a sound good idea is turned into meaningless fanaticism.

Already habitually, “The World according to Garp” turned out to be not a one-man show, but a meaningful unfolded action that absorbed the stories of many. And here’s what’s interesting: in reality it can be difficult for me to accept people who have different views on life with me, who give up morals. With Irving’s heroes, things are different. They may disappoint and make me angry, but for a short book life I will forgive them everything and I will barely find the strength to say goodbye in the finale. And I think this personal change in me is possible only because time after time the beloved and wise author reminds me that life does not tolerate categorical assessments, and a real person is not a template. He is far from ideal, but even so, imperfect, he is worthy of both attention and his moment of fame. And T.S. Garp is no exception.

Ya me pasó con “Oración por Owen”. Tener la sensación al leer, de que John Irving es el narrador perfecto. Desglosa meticulosamente sus personajes; cuenta muchas historias en un mismo libro; y son originales, imaginativas. Combina el drama y el humor perfectamente dosificado; y te sitúa de lleno en un contexto histórico, político y social enriquecedor. Y trata muchos temas: en este caso el miedo al sufrimiento de los seres queridos, la muerte, la creación literaria, la lujuria, y la eclosión del movimiento feminista. Además se permite el lujo de introducir otros relatos independientes, aunque relacionados con el argumento, dentro de la narración. Una vez más, quedo con muy buen sabor de boca, la de haber vuelto a leer una novela de un narrador excepcional.

Recitire & Alegere inspiratã. Un talent deosebit al lui Irving de a încropi poveṣti, un simț al umorului cu care dacã tu, ca cititor, nu te aliniezi, vei urî din rinichi cartea. Garp e unic ca personaj, el e scriitorul care doreṣte o lume sigurã pentru el ṣi pentru copiii lui, el e bãrbatul de care te poți indrãgosti uṣor pentru mintea lui echilibrat-ironicã ṣi pentru siguranța al cãrei devotat slujitor se autointituleazã. Lumea lui e o lume de Duncani ṣi de Helen, supraviețuitori care pot avea o viațã fericitã chiar cu un ochi de sticlã ṣi cu un braț amputat, de exemplu.

3/5

Pirmą kartą skaičiau knygą, kurios 600 puslapių atrodė kaip koks 1000. Ir nors pirmieji susiskaitė su vėjeliu, man galvojant, kad va – viskas taip, kaip man patinka: ir feminizmas, ir bajeriai, ir keisti veikėjai, ir senoviška mokykla, kai prasidėjo Irvingui jau tipiški „aš rašau apie tas pačias 7 temas“ dalykai, kankinaus nuo pragariško deja vu – ypač „Našlei vieneriems metams“. Nes ir prostitutės, ir avarija, ir vaikai, ir nelaimingos santuokos, ir... O dar ir knygos knygose. Blemba, kaip nemėgstu knygų knygose. Aišku, labai smagu, kad čia daug leidybinės virtuvės, daug niuansų, kurie pažįstami ir daug bendražmogiškumo, visgi teksto gausa galiausiai paskandino esmę. Paskandino įdomius veikėjus ir įdomius jų gyvenimus, paskandino likimus ir paskandino mano poreikį žinoti, kas toliau. Ir tas siaubo ir košmarų gausumas toks tankus, kad atbunki – ai, mirė? Nu tai aišku, kad mirė. Ai, išprievartavo? Nu jo, kaip kitaip.

Todėl nors istorija – absoliučiai mano skonio ir dažnai tekstas mane iš naujo pagaudavo, tada prasidėdavo Garpo knygų ištraukos ar panašūs reikalai ir vėl nuobodžiaudavau. Be to, pradėjau skaityti lietuvišką versiją ir po kokių 20 puslapių perėjau prie angliškos – kur kas geriau. Ypač kai Irvingas taip mėgsta žaisti kalba, pajutau milžinišką skirtumą. Knygose, kurias vertė Daugirdienė, tas skirtumas nebuvo toks ryškus, bet dėl Garpo – verta turėti omeny. Ir nors nesigailiu susipažinusi, jaučiuosi iškankinta. Su „Sidro namų taisyklėmis“ ar „Našle vieneriems metams“ taip nesijaučiau.

What can I say about Garp that John Irving hasn't already said about Garp?

'Most books you know nothin's gonna happen,' Jillsy said. 'Lawd, you know that. Other books,' she said, 'you know just what's gonna happen, so you don't have to read them, either. But this book,' Jillsy said, 'this book's so sick you know somethin's gonna happen, but you can't imagine what. You got to be sick yourself to imagine what happens in this book,' Jillsy said.

Well said, Jillsy.

Wolf was being careful; he had already let it slip that he thought The World According to Bensenhaver was an 'X-rated soap opera.' Garp hadn't seemed bothered. '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.

Well said, Garp.

Lawd knows my life has been an X-rated soap opera of sorts at points, though thankfully not as eventful as neither The World According to Bensenhaver nor The World According to Garp.

So what can I say? It's a complete account of a man's life starting from before his birth to after his death. We accompany Garp as he accomplishes his greatest (and lesser) achievements and battles his demons. He is rude to people, kind to people, mean to people, and at times utterly charming. He writes an amazing first short story, The Pension Grillparzer for which John Irving should certainly get recognition because it is a lovely short story, even if it's not his first. And the characters behave rather strangely at times, their reactions to events are disproportional, even absurd, but I like that too. Aren't people in all X-rated soap operas -life included- sometimes strange, absurd, comical?

Bonkie bit Garp! Garp bit Bonkie!

But I digress. I'll leave you with another quote from Jillsy the cleaning lady, also known as John Irving inserting himself in his own novel. (Come to think of it, John Irving is all over this novel. Luckily, he's a pretty interesting character himself.)

'A book feels true when it feels true,' she said to him, impatiently. 'A book's true when you can say, "Yeah! That's just how damn people behave all the time." Then you know it's true.'

John Irving’s fifth novel published in 1978, is one of his most brilliant. The story begins in 1942 when a young woman named Jenny Fields is twenty-two and is caring for soldiers wounded in World War II. We learn that Jenny is the heir to a family fortune but had dropped out of Wellesley and decided to become a nurse, not the usual occupation for a girl of her class or social standing. But Jenny is not a typical girl. Unlike her friends, Jenny is not especially enamored with men or with sex. She has no desire to engage in all that hot heavy stuff, with its crazy physical contortions and messy bodily fluids. Indeed, she believes men have only one purpose in life and that is to help conceive children. So when she decides she wants a child but not the husband that traditionally accompanies that decision, she skillfully impregnates herself with the sperm of a severely brain damaged gunner named Technical Sergeant Garp, who she has been under her care for some time. Jenny gently but efficiently performs this practically induced conception and when eventually Garp dies, he does so never knowing he had fathered a son.

Jenny names her baby T.S. Garp after his father and raises her son alone, taking a position as a nurse at the prestigious, private all-boys Steering School in New England. There, Garp grows up as a young boy interested in sex, wrestling and writing fiction, subjects which hold no interest whatsoever for his mother Jenny.

After Garp graduates, he goes off to Vienna hoping to get the life experience he feels he needs to become a writer. His mother decides to go along and while Garp experiences all Europe has to offer, she will write her autobiography. Garp is surprised as Jenny had never expressed any interest in writing but he enjoys his mother’s company and the two set off on their adventure.

During their time abroad, Garp completes his first novella, “The Pension Grillparzer” and Jenny finishes her memoirs which she titles “A Sexual Suspect”. When they return to the States, Jenny’s book is published to great acclaim and her book sales skyrocket. Without any personal intention, she quickly becomes a feminist icon and a figure of strength, admired for her ability to make a life for herself without a man. She develops a following of feminist fanatics who call themselves the Ellen Jamesians, named after Ellen James, an eleven year old girl whose tongue was cut off by her rapist to ensure her silence about the crime. The women in this group cut off their tongues in an act of solidarity with their hero.

With the earnings from her successful novel, Jenny is able to retire from nursing and move to her parents’ home in Dog’s Head Harbor on the New Hampshire coast where she establishes a center for abused women. Garp marries Helen the daughter of the wrestling coach at the Steering School and begins a family. He is still a struggling writer and now a stay at home Dad, while Helen teaches English and brings in the ongoing revenue that supports the family. Garp is a caring man and a devoted father but is obsessed with keeping his children safe from the dangers of the world.

The couple struggle in their marriage, Garp having affairs with various babysitters, friends and neighbors and Helen beginning her own affair with a graduate student. That affair ends badly and involves the entire family in a tragedy which takes the life of one son and badly injures the other. The family retreats to Jenny’s home at Dog’s Head Harbor to heal their physical wounds and the couple use that time to reconcile and repair their marriage. They subsequently welcome a daughter they call Jenny into their healing family.

Garp continues to learn from the women around him, including Roberta Muldoon a friend of his mother. Roberta is a transsexual ex-football star who struggles to be accepted in society and eventually becomes one of Garp’s close friends. After an absence from the spotlight for many pages, the focus on Jenny returns to center stage when she is assassinated at a feminist rally by a man who is convinced Jenny’s book ruined his marriage. But there is more tragedy to come when Garp, now the wrestling coach at The Steering School, is shot by a deranged feminist who blames Garp for the death of her sister, a girl Garp knew growing up.

And so, Garp’s brief life comes to an end when he is only thirty three.

The book which spans Garp’s entire lifetime is filled with humor, sorrow, death and sex. People live their lives and die in bizarre and wondrous ways and although most of the first half is absurdly funny, the mood shifts quickly to one of tragedy and sorrow. Irving includes many of the familiar themes that populate his novels including a setting in New England and later Vienna, wrestling, death, unending self-doubt and anxiety and bears. And sex is everywhere, with Garp’s perpetual lust, numerous affairs and Helen’s extra-marital liaison which led to irreversible tragedy. Garp’s mother Jenny serves in stark contrast with her determined avoidance of sex except of course for the non-consensual “arrangement” she organized to conceive her son.

The characters are complex, well drawn, engaging and also deeply sympathetic, with the character of the struggling transsexual Roberta Muldoon and Jenny Field the strong willed and loving but unintentional feminist, especially well done.

The novel has quickly become a classic and is recognized as one of Irving’s best novels. I loved it though I found the diversion to Garp’s novella and stories broke the narrative flow. The entire story puts the reader on an emotional rollercoaster with several “laugh out loud” moments interspersed with other stretches of sad disbelief.

This is simply a wonderful, wonderful book, an irresistibly good read.

I really enjoyed this one. John Irving writes characters that speaks out on the current political trends, which till now is still relevant. The different character arcs are also developed to be surreal yet real enough to evoke their importance in their impacts in their surroundings. The contrast of Jenny being killed by a man who hates women, and Garp killed by a woman who hates men, really speaks volumes of the stories’ poignancy and piquancy.

New favourite. Irving can really write literary fiction with strong character development. I’d say it’s a long read, and the first chapter might be a turn off for some, but it’s Irving’s style, and it’s this style that resonates realness and relevance.

i have an ongoing love affair with john irving, and it all started with this book.

i read it for the first time when i was a tad too young, and it has had a freakishly large impact on me. it is not necessarily grand or epic in any sense, and the story is ridiculous and morbid and almost fantastical with its excessive insanity. now, i want to look at it with a condescending and adultlike detachment, believing life has a much higher purpose than wading through the soap opera depicted here. but what i learned, again at a too young age, is that the dirty, dark and crazy melodrama is the best part of any existence. the juicy stuff is what makes us tick.

this book is a must-read. it goes rather quickly, rollicking through the lives and sexual escapades of the characters without much time to catch a breath. you will keep reading just to know if something more ridiculous will happen soon, but find yourself surprised at your attachment to the characters. even when irving becomes a bit obsessive with description, it only paints a deeper image in your mind. it is also unbelievably moving - there is a section that i tend to skip now, simply because i will start sobbing too hard if i read it. but i also find myself laughing out loud to other parts, frequently through the tears.

i learned what a douche bag was from this book. that was an awkward conversation with my health teacher...

Wow, talk about original. Irving packs this book with freakishly oddball characters, but every one is so... knowable. They seem, if not normal, then like people whom I have met. I am in awe of Irving's ability to make characters unbelievable and believable at the same time. Similarly, this book is full of tragedy, and is simultaneously uplifting.

I was lucky to read the book before I saw the movie, mostly because my parents loved reading so much that I could read just about anything, but movies were different. Nothing higher than a "G!" Not that seeing the movie would have made the book less great, just that each page was a revelation.

More than 10 years later, I was sitting mutely in a meeting where everyone was discussing and talking over each other (I am normally one to jump in, but I was fending off a migraine). My boss, a funny guy and great friend, with whom I had never discussed this or any other book, leaned over to me and asked, "What are you, an Ellen Jamesian?" I don't know why, but that speaks to the brilliance and transcendance of this book. Also, I laughed so hard that the migraine got instantly worse and then vanished!

Επιτέλους αποφάσισα να διαβάσω ένα βιβλίο του Τζον Ίρβινγκ, ο οποίος είναι ένας από τους πιο πολυδιαβασμένους εν ζωή Αμερικανούς συγγραφείς. Και διάλεξα το συγκεκριμένο τουβλάκι που είναι από τα πιο γνωστά του και έχει γίνει και ταινία με αρκετά μεγάλη επιτυχία. Λοιπόν, ήταν ένα άκρως απολαυστικό κωμικοτραγικό μυθιστόρημα, γεμάτο κάθε είδους εικόνες και συναισθήματα, με πολλές σκηνές που βγάζουν γέλιο και άλλες σκηνές που αν μη τι άλλο είναι πιο στενάχωρες και σε βάζουν σε διάφορες σκέψεις. Χάρη στη γραφή, την όλη τρελή πλοκή και τους ολίγον τι ιδιόρρυθμους χαρακτήρες, ο συγγραφέας κατάφερε να με κρατήσει δέσμιο του βιβλίου, να με καθηλώσει μέχρι το τέλος, προσφέροντάς μου ένα σωρό καλούδια. Το βιβλίο είναι αρκετά σαρκαστικό, σε σημεία σατιρικό και με μαύρη αίσθηση του χιούμορ, ενώ επίσης όχι και τόσο πολιτικά ορθό, προσωπικά το ευχαριστήθηκα όσο περισσότερο γινόταν. Ο Ίρβινγκ ασχολείται με τον δικό του, ιδιαίτερο τρόπο με κάμποσα διαφορετικά θέματα/ζητήματα, όπως είναι η συγγραφή και οι συγγραφείς, ο φεμινισμός, η σχέση μάνας και γιου, η πατρότητα, η πάλη, και τόσα πολλά άλλα. Επίσης βρήκα πολύ ωραία τα διηγήματα που υπήρχαν μέσα στο βιβλίο, διηγήματα που υποτίθεται ότι έγραψε ο Σ. Τ. Γκαρπ, αν και φυσικά τα έγραψε ο Ίρβινγκ: Από μόνα τους ήταν πολύ ενδιαφέροντα και ιδιαίτερα, και σίγουρα μου άρεσε αυτό το αφηγηματικό τρικ. Γενικά, είναι ένα μυθιστόρημα γεμάτο ζωή, γλαφυρό και με τον τρόπο του συναρπαστικό, και κατά τη γνώμη μου εξαιρετικά καλογραμμένο και άκρως απολαυστικό. Ίσως ο τρόπος γραφής και σκέψης του Ίρβινγκ (καθώς και το χιούμορ του) να μην είναι για όλα τα αναγνωστικά γούστα, πάντως εμένα με κέρδισε. Στη συλλογή μου έχω δυο ακόμα βιβλία του ("Ξενοδοχείο Νέο Χαμσάιρ" και "Θέα στον ωκεανό"), ενώ υπάρχουν άλλα τρία μεταφρασμένα που θα αναζητήσω άμεσα (αν και τα τρία είναι πλέον εξαντλημένα!). Χάρηκα πολύ που το διάβασα, στεναχωρήθηκα όμως που τελείωσε! Αλλά ποιος ξέρει, κάποια στιγμή στο μέλλον μπορεί και να το ξαναδιαβάσω...

The World According to Garp by John Irving: I love John Irving. His story telling suits me. This one stands near the top. Jenny Fields is a feminist winner. T.S. Garp her son muddles his way through life trying to keep up. We walk into a smorgasbord of wonder and sexual ideas. We question our beliefs. We stand with women who have been wronged and want to right their ship. Jenny is a monument and Grap follows in step behind her. Read this book with and open heart and mind. All too often readers sit down with a cold heart steadfast on not being challenged. If that is the mindset the book will get 1 or maybe 2 stars from the reader. The reader who is ready to approach new horizons can grow and find new meaning. For me this is a good well written read. Be open and enjoy.

Beautifully bawdy, is there any other way to describe it? Sex is funny--far from the holy institution many make it out to be--and John Irving understands that. There's the usual--academia, Vienna, sex, New England, handicaps, stories-within-stories, squash, bears, whores, wrestling, writers, circuses, India--but this is one of the books that helped cement these elements as 'the usual' when discussing John Irving. The World According to Garp is hilarious and surprisingly violent. Charming but not sugary--at times there's much not to like about TS Garp and he seems like the world's biggest deadbeat, but it makes him human and simply adds to the appeal. What I really want is for John Irving to tell me a bed time story like the one Garp tells Walt and Helen--oh wait, he just did, though the version I got is much too long for a single night and would have to be told like One Thousand and One Nights.