Es fällt mir schwer, das Buch zu rezensieren, da es jetzt doch schon eine Weile her ist, dass ich es gelesen habe. Ich denke, das könnte schon vieles über meine Meinung zum Buch aussagen.

Auf der einen Seite ist es unterhaltsam zu lesen, humorvoll & skurril erzählt, allerdings gibt es einige verstörende Episoden, auf die der Autor auch hätte verzichten können. Die inzestuöse Beziehung zweier Minderjährige und eine Gruppenvergewaltigung tragen für mich wenig zum Gesamtbild des Romans bei. Trotzdem sind mir vor allem diese Trigger-Punkte im Gedächtnis geblieben, während der Rest der Handlung und die einzelnen Charaktere verschwimmen und recht eintönig bleiben.

Der Schreibstil ist dagegen genial und mir gefällt das Unvorhersehbare der Handlung, bzw. die ungewöhnliche Gewichtung der Plotelemente. Der Tod einiger Hauptprotagonisten nimmt eine halbe Seite ein, während über Belangloses recht ausführlich geschrieben wird. Zusammenfassend ein lohnendes Leseerlebnis für Personen, denen eine solche Erzählweise zusagt.

ChatGPT meint dazu: "Mit einem scharfsinnigen Blick für das Absurde und einer Vorliebe für skurrile Charaktere erzählt Irving eine Geschichte, die gleichermaßen berührt und verstört."

THE GREAT COMPLETIST CHALLENGE: In which I revisit older authors and attempt to read every book they ever wrote

Currently‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌challenge:‌ ‌Isaac‌ ‌Asimov's‌ ‌Robot/Empire/Foundation‌ |‌ ‌Margaret‌ Atwood‌ |‌ ‌JG‌ ‌Ballard‌ |‌ Clive‌ ‌Barker‌ |‌ Christopher‌ Buckley‌ |‌ ‌Jim Butcher's Dresden Files | ‌Lee Child's Jack Reacher | ‌Philip‌ ‌K‌ ‌Dick‌ |‌ ‌Ian Fleming | William‌ ‌Gibson‌ |‌ ‌Michel‌ Houellebecq‌ |‌ John‌ ‌Irving‌ |‌ ‌Kazuo‌ ‌Ishiguro‌ |‌ Shirley‌ Jackson‌ | ‌John‌ ‌Le‌ ‌Carre‌ |‌ Bernard‌ ‌Malamud‌ |‌ Cormac McCarthy | China‌ ‌Mieville‌ |‌ Toni Morrison | ‌VS‌ Naipaul‌ |‌ Chuck‌ ‌Palahniuk‌ |‌ ‌Tim‌ ‌Powers‌ |‌ ‌Terry‌ ‌Pratchett's‌ ‌Discworld‌ |‌ Philip‌ ‌Roth‌ |‌ Neal‌ Stephenson‌ |‌ ‌Jim‌ ‌Thompson‌ |‌ John‌ ‌Updike‌ |‌ Kurt‌ ‌Vonnegut‌ |‌ Jeanette Winterson | PG‌ ‌Wodehouse‌ ‌

After starting his career with three obscure novels that hardly anyone noticed, John Irving was immediately vaulted into literary superstardom with his fourth, 1978's The World According to Garp (see my review), a clever metafictional tale in which this New England author writes an semi-autobiographical story about a New England author who writes semi-autobiographical stories, using the fiction pieces his alter-ego Garp writes to show the complicated relationship they have with Garp's "real" life, which effectively serves as a double-blind to examine how the events of John Irving's actual real life complexly inform both Garp's fictional biography and the fictional-fictional works he's writing about his fictional biography. The fact that he pulled this off with humor and aplomb is a big part of why it became such a surprise international bestseller, which was then only helped by a high-profile movie version which marked the feature debut of insanely popular comedian Robin Williams.

So in this, then, you can see Irving's follow-up, 1981's The Hotel New Hampshire, as a fully realized version of one of the novels Garp is described as having written during his own fictional career, in that it touches on basically all the issues that were a part of Garp's "real" life (and hence double-removed issues from Irving's real-real life): rinky-dink circuses, performing bears, time in Vienna, an obsession with Viennese prostitutes, blue-collar intellectuals who are into sports, the aftermath of sexual assault, dysfunctional radical feminists, and death, death, oh so much death, all wrapped up in a convoluted adult fairy tale about the world's quirkiest family and their efforts to run three different family-owned hotels in three far-flung locations around the world.

It's easy to see why the world generally reacted with disappointment when New Hampshire first came out, because it's essentially only one half of the previous Garp, but without the delightful Postmodernist element of a modern author looking back on the story that he's writing as you're reading that story he's writing; that was a kind of perfect magic trick Irving miraculously pulled off, a once-in-a-career "lightning in a bottle" moment that he was wise to not even attempt again. (But don't worry about Irving; his very next book after this one, 1985's The Cider House Rules, has gone on to be one of the most popular and repeatedly read of his entire career.) And in the meanwhile, time has been kind to The Hotel New Hampshire, in that it reads even more delightfully here 38 years later than when it first came out, a sort of winking, self-aware fable that solidified Irving's reputation for plunging into black pits of darkness in his work but somehow always managing to get us to swim back up to the light-infused surface again. Irving has since gone on to a long and fruitful career of pulling off this dark/light, realist/absurdist feat time and time again; but it's certainly on display in a masterful way even here in his early work, a book that has its spotty moments but in general is a great read for any Irving completist or simply fan of Postmodernist literature. (And for super-completists, make sure to track down the Hollywood adaptation that was made of this too, starring such young luminaries as Rob Lowe, Jodie Foster, and a tiny Seth Green in his feature debut.)

John Irving books being reviewed in this series: Setting Free the Bears (1968) | The Water-Method Man (1972) | The 158-Pound Marriage (1974) | The World According to Garp (1978) | The Hotel New Hampshire (1981) | The Cider House Rules (1985) | A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989) | A Son of the Circus (1994) | A Widow for One Year (1998) | The Fourth Hand (2001) | Until I Find You (2005) | Last Night in Twisted River (2009) | In One Person (2012) | Avenue of Mysteries (2015)

i've probably read this 10 times now. i went through a john irving phase, and i ODed about half-way through. (140lb marriage is a terrible book, btw. don't do it).

but this is one of my favorite books. it would be desert island number three, but it's a little too sad... i don't think it would be a good idea to isolate myself with it on an island to read again and again for eternity. that said, it's irving at his best. anyone who can take a family involved in incest and abuse and prostitution and suicide and still somehow make you love them and identify with them is a pretty fantastic writer. totally ironic (whatever that really means) and sympathetic. it's sad, and even painful, so i often think about picking it up, but don't. it takes a certain mindset. but everyone should read it at least once.

Es ist mal wieder ein brillanter Roman, mit tollen Figuren wie man sie von Irving kennt. Für einen Irving Roman ist es trotzdem nur eine 3 von 5. zwischendurch verliert es so an Schwung, dass man sich echt quälen muss. Das hätten statt 750 auch 400 Seiten sein dürfen. Abzug auch wie immer für die Frauenfiguren, bei denen es mir zu oft um ihr Aussehen geht wenn sie beschrieben werden. Immerzu sehen sie „für ihr Alter jung aus“, idgaf Johnny, lass es sein

I really loved this book. I found out about it through one of my social work professors in college because in the book, there is a dog named Sorrow and I was really intrigued by the symbolism that Sorrow comes to represent throughout the book. There are some sad moments as well as some unorthodox moments (uh, brotherly-sisterly love?!?!) but....aside from that, I really like this book. John Irving's writing is definitely quirky and different than most, but he is one of my favorite authors.

Update 2017: I'm bad with names, I really am. I can't remember the names of people I met, of my colleagues or politicians. But nearly two years have passed since I read this book and I still remember all of them: Frank, Franny, John, Lilly and Egg! I'm currently reading The Cider House Rules and that just reminded me, how much I loved The Hotel New Hampshire. :-)

Review 2016
This was one of the most emotional and therefore beautiful books i’ve read so far. The characters were all so well elaborated. Their actings, feelings and dialogues seemed so real. While reading, i somehow felt everything they felt: I dreamed with Win, i had a strong will as Lily, i was confused as Frank, i cried for Egg, i hated Ernst and i loved Franny way to much…
Although a lot of bad things happened, it was a very positive story. I loved how the author focused on the strengths of the characters and saw the good in every protagonist. Nobody was condemned for their dreams and wishes, their thoughts and their mistakes as long as they didn’t hurt somebody else.
Moreover the writing-style was beautiful as well. Nothing was sugarcoated and everything was described refreshingly explicit.

So far this is the weakest John Irving book I have read. His books are always crazy and slightly unbelievable, but this is the first time I didn't believe. Spoilers ahead. First off all I just didn't believe the plane death. Who travels in plans separately, did people actually do this? You drive in the same car together, going separately just doubles your risk. Plane crashes are just so unlikely that I didn't buy this for a second. I really liked Egg and Mother, but wasn't sad when they died because it was so unrealistic. Too many of the characters in this book die that I feel John Irving is just ticking them off, plus people don't die of fright as easily as they seem to in this book. Finally his portrayal of the family from Arizona just seemed laughable. They took a trip to Maine and saw the ocean for the first time? Does John Irving forget there is a west coast? Or for that matter lots of places to go skiing that aren't all the way in Maine.
For all my complaining I did like many parts of the book, my favorite by far was the middle of the book, the 2nd hotel new Hampshire when they are in Vienna that part is great. Although I would have loved to know more about Frank he seemed like an interesting character who just mostly fades to the background.

Irving is a great storyteller and novelist with characters that come to life in being all but flawless and also by taking views and actions that are unexpected, very much like in life. He also has a few strange interests, such as bears, wrestling and much more and a few of them are in evidence in this one as well.

'Hampshire' is good, but not one of his best, mostly due to it being quite the bumpy ride, parts are amazing and some parts are easily missed. I would start with another one of his.

Hotel New Hampshire is that book for me. That one great book. It makes me want to go back to any other book I rated with 5 stars and lower them down at least one - because surely they do not compare to this one.

It's impossible to summarize Hotel New Hampshire and have it make sense to someone who has either not read it, or not read anything else by Irving. It contains bears, little people, taxidermy and radicals. The story has many fantastical elements - but at the core of this novel is a story about a family and how it endures. Irving will spend pages describing simple things, yet major events that take place last but a sentence or two. I've re-read this book several times now, and with each reading I discover new layers of the story.

Beyond this - it is difficult for me to make sense of what to write about this book to entice someone to read it - yet not give away any gems that one will discover upon reading it. I will say this - if you are able to read this book and take the lighthearted moments with a smile and the more serious moments with some thought - you will undoubtedly enjoy this book.

So we dream on - thus we invent our lives.

I read A Prayer for Owen Meany not too long ago, knowing nothing about it or John Irving, and I was completely blown away. It shot right up onto my favorites list. Unfortunately, I didn't have nearly the same experience with The Hotel New Hampshire. The author's ability to portray complex, fascinating, quirky characters is just as central here as it was in APfOM, but I think this book suffers from too-much syndrome. There is just SO MUCH going on. And it runs the gamut from wacky hotel guests, literary fame, weightlifting, casual taxidermy, trained bears; to anarchist plots, prostitution, humans masquerading as trained bears; to incest, rape, disability, death, suicide. I think my issue is that pretty much all of these things are treated the same way in terms of how much focus is put on them. It gave the whole book a very odd, unsteady kind of perspective to which I had trouble connecting.

Until the last five % of the book, I was prepared to give this story one star. I am sorry, but it was a strange, strange story, and I just do not do strange well. I felt the author vindicated it though, with the ending. I was pleasantly surprised.

It was easy to read and follow along. I think there should be a warning statement about the sex talk, rape and other scenes of violence in the story.

The first novel I’ve read from Irving that I considered to be one of my favorites and possibly one of his best though basically it doesn’t have any plot to start with. The novel is about the Berry’s, a quirky and bizarre family. How they lived their life full of surprises, tragedies, death and realization. It starts with the overwhelming desire of the Berry father to run a hotel and the belief that a family can survive a life living in a hotel. The Berry’s consists of the affectionate mother, (who I thought was one of the most sympathetic characters in the story), Frank, their eldest homosexual son, Franny, the weirdest and their beautiful daughter, John, the narrator (and the one whose always in crisis), Lily the writer and Egg the egg.

The Hotel New Hampshire is a hilarious, heartbreaking and the most touching family saga I’ve ever read. Every character will grab the readers’ attention, sympathies’ and love. Just when things start to get happy, then tragedy strikes (an Irving signature). The book though has many chapters, is in my opinion does have only two parts. I am not sure to say that Mr. Irving eliminates any other to make way for new characters (and to fully control them) because after you’ve gone to the second part, a realization that some certain characters do not to fit on the situation thus they should have to be eliminated.

This is the type of book I really hate to leave, not being overdramatic but I just really want to read more about them, of course it’s a saga so everyone has to say goodbye. After finishing this one, its people still lingers in my mind and I still wonder what they’re up to until now. It also contains the most readable lines I’ve ever read, it makes me stop and think until fully realizing its significance before continuing. Though it has a different plot, it came to my mind that it shares the same setting with the manga (comic) Maison Ikkoku from one of my most favorite manga-ka (comic artist), Rumiko Takahashi (creator of Inu Yasha, Ranma 1/2).

If I am to recommend an Irving novel to make you read more from him, this would probably the one I’ll pick together with his The Cider House Rules, A Prayer for Owen Meany and The World According to Garp. I highly recommend this one. The Hotel New Hampshire is also adapted to screen in 1984 .

Opening Sentence: The summer my father bought the bear, none of us was born-we weren’t even conceived: not Frank, the oldest; not Franny, the loudest; not me, the next; and not the youngest of us, Lilly and Egg.

Ending Sentence: You have to keep passing the open windows.