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While not my favorite book of Irving's, I still enjoyed this story. The family is beautiful in their own damaged way, and I loved each of them.
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The Hotel New Hampshire
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Book by John Irving
null pages, Hardcover
First published January 1,1981
This edition
- Format
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null pages, Hardcover
- Published
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April 28, 1999 by Ballantine Books
- ISBN
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9780345915634
- ASIN
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0345915631
- Language
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English
Characters More characters
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John Berry
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Franny Berry
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Frank Berry
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Win Berry
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Lilly Berry
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About the author
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JOHN IRVING was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1942. His first novel, Setting Free the Bears, was published in 1968, when he was twenty-six. He competed as a wrestler for twenty years, and coached wrestling until he was forty-seven.
Mr. Irving has been nominated for a National Book Award three times—winning once, in 1980, for his novel The World According to Garp. He received an O. Henry Award in 1981 for his short story “Interior Space.” In 2000, Mr. Irving won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules. In 2013, he won a Lambda Literary Award for his novel In One Person.
An international writer—his novels have been translated into more than thirty-five languages—John Irving lives in Toronto. His all-time best-selling novel, in every language, is A Prayer for Owen Meany.
Avenue of Mysteries is his fourteenth novel.
Mr. Irving has been nominated for a National Book Award three times—winning once, in 1980, for his novel The World According to Garp. He received an O. Henry Award in 1981 for his short story “Interior Space.” In 2000, Mr. Irving won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules. In 2013, he won a Lambda Literary Award for his novel In One Person.
An international writer—his novels have been translated into more than thirty-five languages—John Irving lives in Toronto. His all-time best-selling novel, in every language, is A Prayer for Owen Meany.
Avenue of Mysteries is his fourteenth novel.
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Wow, I don’t think I can put into words what this book is like! One of the most memorable and unique things I’ve ever read. The recurring phrases ‘Jesus God’ and ‘Keep passing the open windows’ will stay with me forever. Such a beautiful, effortlessly complex story. The characters are so vivid, Franny and Frank especially. Highly recommend.
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I loved LOVED John Irving’s “A Prayer for Owen Meany,” so I chose Irving’s “The Hotel New Hampshire” as my first foray into an Audible book that was not a Harry Potter. It might have been a mistake, as the book was LONG, almost 20 hours. Since I listened to it while exercising, which I don’t do every day, by the time the author was tying up various themes, I had forgotten some key scenes early in the book. And there were numerous emotional triggers, such as the loss of a spouse and child. The hardest thing for me was the ongoing theme of brother-sister incest. Adultery is an age old theme in literature; few folks are freaked out about homosexual scenes now; so I guess incest is the last frontier. It was icky enough in “A Song of Ice and Fire,” but I guess I explained away Jaime and Cersei Lannister’s love as a medieval story and Cersei was seriously evil anyway. I had a terrible time w/ it here, especially when John, the narrator, and his sister, Frannie, gave in to their mutual, life-long attraction, ostensibly so they could “get over” each other. Yuck. There is also an unpleasant gang rape, which resonates throughout the whole story. I also am really bothered by husbands/fathers who are “dreamers” instead of practical hard workers, which Win Berry, the father in this story, is. His dreams for successive Hotels New Hampshire were very frustrating for me, since he had five kids and a wife to feed.
The plot is too long, convoluted, and filled w/ various emotional triggers to actually delineate in my review. All kinds of heartbreaking stuff happens, most notably for me the loss of a couple of family members (I won’t identify which ones to avoid spoilers) in a plane crash when the family is moving to Vienna to open the second Hotel New Hampshire. I have to mention the line “Sorrow floats” b/c it has so many meanings in the story line but just shattering in this situation. So shattering I nearly cried out loud on my jog!
I’m sort of glad I listened to this b/c I would NEVER have made it through all the German words if I read it. The Audible narrator does a masterful job w/ the German, the opera and philosophers. Now I know how to pronounce some of those names!
Anyway, no one can top John Irving in creating quirky, very human, characters. This book will make you laugh out loud; cry out loud; scream w/ frustration w/ the characters; or in fright over at least one situation. There is great symmetry and closure and no one can top Irving’s beautiful writing and ability to draw together all the threads in a sprawling story. I just can’t give it 5 stars b/c of all the controversial plot threads.
The plot is too long, convoluted, and filled w/ various emotional triggers to actually delineate in my review. All kinds of heartbreaking stuff happens, most notably for me the loss of a couple of family members (I won’t identify which ones to avoid spoilers) in a plane crash when the family is moving to Vienna to open the second Hotel New Hampshire. I have to mention the line “Sorrow floats” b/c it has so many meanings in the story line but just shattering in this situation. So shattering I nearly cried out loud on my jog!
I’m sort of glad I listened to this b/c I would NEVER have made it through all the German words if I read it. The Audible narrator does a masterful job w/ the German, the opera and philosophers. Now I know how to pronounce some of those names!
Anyway, no one can top John Irving in creating quirky, very human, characters. This book will make you laugh out loud; cry out loud; scream w/ frustration w/ the characters; or in fright over at least one situation. There is great symmetry and closure and no one can top Irving’s beautiful writing and ability to draw together all the threads in a sprawling story. I just can’t give it 5 stars b/c of all the controversial plot threads.
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Puoi anche prenderla in giro, la Susie, perché ha paura di essere un essere umano e di avere a che fare con gli altri esseri umani; ma quanti esseri umani la pensano allo stesso modo e tuttavia non fanno nessuno sforzo d’immaginazione per trovare una soluzione? Sarà da stupidi passare la vita a fare l’orso, ma ammetterai, ci vuole fantasia.
Sì, ho dato due stelle a Irving.
It was ok.
Non è molto di più, o almeno non lo è stato per me.
I Berry sono sgangherati, fuori di testa, originali, ammaccati e divertenti. Passano da un posto all’altro, da un orso all’altro, da una disavventura all’altra senza mai perdere una certa purezza interiore.
Diciamolo, i primi capitoli sono spassosissimi, prima che con l’adolescenza le cose inizino a farsi maledettamente serie. E fin qui, sembra un capolavoro il romanzo.
Solo che poi ci sono i sette anni a Vienna, l’orsa Susie, gli aerei che cadono, i rivoluzionari, le bombe. Cosa si può volere di più. Ecco: io avrei iniziato a togliere qualcosa, per esempio. Il continuo aggiungere situazioni assurde ad altre, mi ha fatto perdere il lato umano.
Ho perso la tenerezza. Perché ai personaggi ti ci devi pure affezionare. Io ho iniziato a pensare che menomale che qualcuno era passato a miglior vita, menomale che passavano le pagine, menomale che tornavano a New York.
Ma anche a New York due scene memorabili: la vendetta su Chip Dove e (spoiler) il suicidio di non posso dirvi chi. Poi poco altro. Si risolleva nel finale, quando i Berry, per scalcagnati e pazzi furiosi che siano tornano umani.
A quel punto, però, avevo galoppato per due terzi del romanzo sperando di arrivare presto alla fine.
”Se non diventassimo forti con quello che perdiamo, con ciò che ci manca, quello che desideriamo e non abbiamo”, disse papà, “non saremmo mai forti abbastanza, non ti pare? Che cos’altro ci rende forti?”
Nel romanzo i momenti grandiosi e le trovate geniali si mischiano con momenti tediosi e passaggi un po' banali.
Comunque forse il mio problema è che mi aspettavo troppo.
Oppure che sto diventando cattivissima con le valutazioni.
Non so.
Quello che so, è che io non la penso come Win Berry. Per me, un hotel non ha bisogno di un orso. Meglio una doccia con funzioni massaggio, grazie.
Sì, ho dato due stelle a Irving.
It was ok.
Non è molto di più, o almeno non lo è stato per me.
I Berry sono sgangherati, fuori di testa, originali, ammaccati e divertenti. Passano da un posto all’altro, da un orso all’altro, da una disavventura all’altra senza mai perdere una certa purezza interiore.
Diciamolo, i primi capitoli sono spassosissimi, prima che con l’adolescenza le cose inizino a farsi maledettamente serie. E fin qui, sembra un capolavoro il romanzo.
Solo che poi ci sono i sette anni a Vienna, l’orsa Susie, gli aerei che cadono, i rivoluzionari, le bombe. Cosa si può volere di più. Ecco: io avrei iniziato a togliere qualcosa, per esempio. Il continuo aggiungere situazioni assurde ad altre, mi ha fatto perdere il lato umano.
Ho perso la tenerezza. Perché ai personaggi ti ci devi pure affezionare. Io ho iniziato a pensare che menomale che qualcuno era passato a miglior vita, menomale che passavano le pagine, menomale che tornavano a New York.
Ma anche a New York due scene memorabili: la vendetta su Chip Dove e (spoiler) il suicidio di non posso dirvi chi. Poi poco altro. Si risolleva nel finale, quando i Berry, per scalcagnati e pazzi furiosi che siano tornano umani.
A quel punto, però, avevo galoppato per due terzi del romanzo sperando di arrivare presto alla fine.
”Se non diventassimo forti con quello che perdiamo, con ciò che ci manca, quello che desideriamo e non abbiamo”, disse papà, “non saremmo mai forti abbastanza, non ti pare? Che cos’altro ci rende forti?”
Nel romanzo i momenti grandiosi e le trovate geniali si mischiano con momenti tediosi e passaggi un po' banali.
Comunque forse il mio problema è che mi aspettavo troppo.
Oppure che sto diventando cattivissima con le valutazioni.
Non so.
Quello che so, è che io non la penso come Win Berry. Per me, un hotel non ha bisogno di un orso. Meglio una doccia con funzioni massaggio, grazie.
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Read this many years even though back then it was so different than the books I'd normally read I kept on reading because the writing was so good.
Want to read another of his books.
Read date is a guess.
Want to read another of his books.
Read date is a guess.
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I feel a little bad for finishing this book so quickly, as John Irving spends years writing his books — in longhand, no less! — and a lot of work goes into constructing his stories, but I could not put this down. Never before I have been that enamored so soon when reading an Irving novel; typically, it takes a chapter or two until I warm up to the world he is building. Not so with The Hotel New Hampshire. I was charmed from the start.
One’s enjoyment of this novel will likely hinge on his or her threshold for ‘triggering’ subjects. Incest is arguably the heart of this book; Irving handles the topic with love and care, but I know the subject is an unpleasant one for many readers — and the author does not shy away from it; Irving handles it with his typical deftness. He wants to throttle his reader, to push him or her out of the comfort zone . . . and he accomplishes that.
On display is the typical Irving-isms: bears, New England private schools, Vienna, prostitution, sexual awakenings, sexual experimentation, shocking deaths, wacky situations. It’s John Irving; he certainly is not for everyone, but for his fans, in this hotel can be found familiar pleasures.
One’s enjoyment of this novel will likely hinge on his or her threshold for ‘triggering’ subjects. Incest is arguably the heart of this book; Irving handles the topic with love and care, but I know the subject is an unpleasant one for many readers — and the author does not shy away from it; Irving handles it with his typical deftness. He wants to throttle his reader, to push him or her out of the comfort zone . . . and he accomplishes that.
On display is the typical Irving-isms: bears, New England private schools, Vienna, prostitution, sexual awakenings, sexual experimentation, shocking deaths, wacky situations. It’s John Irving; he certainly is not for everyone, but for his fans, in this hotel can be found familiar pleasures.
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I winced, cringed, and rolled my eyes through this. The only other Irving I'd read was Garp and I absolutely adored it...until about the last third. The spell Irving had woven over me wore off and the book started to grate; this one wore out its welcome in the first hundred pages.
I can't stand the precious little phrases the characters use constantly throughout the book (what?, open windows, 464, blah, blah, blah) and the motifs from the author's other works (bears, athletic obsession, lust, castration fear). The work starts out in the town of Precious and moves on to Cloyington and then settles in Contrivedville.
To me, this stuff is the bastard child of Dickens & Tom Robbins. That mix obviously appeals to many readers, I'm just not one of them. I still have a copy of A Prayer for Owen Meany that I intend to read, as I am told that's his best work. Maybe I'll enjoy that one. I certainly hope so.
I can't stand the precious little phrases the characters use constantly throughout the book (what?, open windows, 464, blah, blah, blah) and the motifs from the author's other works (bears, athletic obsession, lust, castration fear). The work starts out in the town of Precious and moves on to Cloyington and then settles in Contrivedville.
To me, this stuff is the bastard child of Dickens & Tom Robbins. That mix obviously appeals to many readers, I'm just not one of them. I still have a copy of A Prayer for Owen Meany that I intend to read, as I am told that's his best work. Maybe I'll enjoy that one. I certainly hope so.
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Meine erste Begegnung mit John Irvings Roman Das Hotel New Hampshire kann ich zeitlich nicht mehr verorten, ich weiß nur, dass ich die Geschichte und seine Art zu erzählen als herrlich anders und skuril im positiven Sinne empfunden habe. Mit Rufus Beck als Vorleser wird das sogar noch besser.
Den Inhalt kann man gut auf den entsprechenden Wikipedia-Seiten nachlesen. Erzählt wird die Geschichte von John, dem mittleren von fünf Kindern der Familie Berry. Es werden mehrere Hotels mit dem Namen New Hampshire gegründet, wobei keines davon ein wirtschaftlicher Erfolg ist. Bären und Hunde spielen eine wichtige Rolle. Das Thema Vergewaltigung und Gewalt im Allgemeinen, aber auch Prostitution, sind wiederkehrende Motive. Antisemitismus, Freud in Wien, Selbstmord, Terrorismus, Homosexualität, literarische Querbezüge z.B. zu The Great Gatsby - Irving hat seinen Roman mit Symbolismus und Querverweisen vollgestopft. Was zunächst grotesk erscheint, wirkt auf den zweiten nachdenklicheren Blick hin bedeutungsschwer und philosophisch. Dramatische Szenen wechseln sich ab mit unglaubhaften und lustigen Geschehnissen, es ist ein andauerndes Wechselbad von Emotionen, Dabei ist die Frage stets präsent, ob der Erzähler das noch ernst meinen kann, so surreal ist die Handlung manchmal. Vor diesem manchmal abstrusen Hintergrund sind die Charaktere in ihrer Diversität allesamt spannend und liebenswert. Nicht für alle geht die Geschichte gut aus, aber es ist vor allem das System der Familie Berry und ihre Liebe füreinander, das Das Hotel New Hampshire zu so einem besonderen Leseerlebnis werden lässt.
Den Inhalt kann man gut auf den entsprechenden Wikipedia-Seiten nachlesen. Erzählt wird die Geschichte von John, dem mittleren von fünf Kindern der Familie Berry. Es werden mehrere Hotels mit dem Namen New Hampshire gegründet, wobei keines davon ein wirtschaftlicher Erfolg ist. Bären und Hunde spielen eine wichtige Rolle. Das Thema Vergewaltigung und Gewalt im Allgemeinen, aber auch Prostitution, sind wiederkehrende Motive. Antisemitismus, Freud in Wien, Selbstmord, Terrorismus, Homosexualität, literarische Querbezüge z.B. zu The Great Gatsby - Irving hat seinen Roman mit Symbolismus und Querverweisen vollgestopft. Was zunächst grotesk erscheint, wirkt auf den zweiten nachdenklicheren Blick hin bedeutungsschwer und philosophisch. Dramatische Szenen wechseln sich ab mit unglaubhaften und lustigen Geschehnissen, es ist ein andauerndes Wechselbad von Emotionen, Dabei ist die Frage stets präsent, ob der Erzähler das noch ernst meinen kann, so surreal ist die Handlung manchmal. Vor diesem manchmal abstrusen Hintergrund sind die Charaktere in ihrer Diversität allesamt spannend und liebenswert. Nicht für alle geht die Geschichte gut aus, aber es ist vor allem das System der Familie Berry und ihre Liebe füreinander, das Das Hotel New Hampshire zu so einem besonderen Leseerlebnis werden lässt.
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