The Hotel New Hampshire (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
by John Irving
published
June 23rd 1997
(first published 1982)
by Ballantine Books
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binding
Paperback, 432 pages
isbn
034541795X
(isbn13: 9780345417954)
description
"The first of my father's illusions was that bears could survive the life lived by human beings, and the second was that human beings could survive a life led in hotels."
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avg 3.83
Read in August, 2008
(This was the first book of my new book club).
John Irving is one of America’s great writers. Happy Days was one of America’s most popular television shows. (Don’t worry this will make sense later)
Happy Days was beloved, but everyone knows there was one episode where everything seems to start to go downhill for Fonzie and the kids; it was the episode where Fonzie drove his motorcycle over a ramp and jumped a shark. Now the phrase “jumped the shark” is utilized for that point ...more
John Irving is one of America’s great writers. Happy Days was one of America’s most popular television shows. (Don’t worry this will make sense later)
Happy Days was beloved, but everyone knows there was one episode where everything seems to start to go downhill for Fonzie and the kids; it was the episode where Fonzie drove his motorcycle over a ramp and jumped a shark. Now the phrase “jumped the shark” is utilized for that point ...more
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Read in June, 2007
To describe the plotline of The Hotel New Hampshire to a questioning would-be reader is to realize that you’ve been enthralled with a plot that is, at its core, rather silly. Circus bears and run-down hotels, plane crashes (so silly!) and midgets, botched taxidermy and obsessive weight-lifting – these are what Irving novels are made of. This was an undeniably fun read that I sped through, and I picked up another Irving (A Widow for One Year) as soon as I was done (I just can’t get enough...more
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
Everyone
Awesome book. I had never read Irving before, and I have no idea why not. He's like that Deli that you always drive by but never go into, then one day decide "what the hell" and it turns out to have the best pastrami sandwich you've ever had in your life.
Anyway, the story revolves around an unusual family growing up and learning about sex, sports, love, death, failure, success, etc etc. It's quirky and funny and strange - Irving has a knack for finding little bits of truth in trul...more
Anyway, the story revolves around an unusual family growing up and learning about sex, sports, love, death, failure, success, etc etc. It's quirky and funny and strange - Irving has a knack for finding little bits of truth in trul...more
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Read in December, 2007
I really wanted to like this book, and at first I did. But then they went to Vienna...and then it just got long. And confused. And I really hate to do this here, in such a public forum, but, I really think it's my duty as a goodreads do gooder...
BT, yet again your 5 star rating is WRONG. You should be ashamed of yourself. What are you doing, just clicking haphazardly on stars? Are you not taking your job here seriously? Am I going to have to ban you from reading? I think you need to ...more
BT, yet again your 5 star rating is WRONG. You should be ashamed of yourself. What are you doing, just clicking haphazardly on stars? Are you not taking your job here seriously? Am I going to have to ban you from reading? I think you need to ...more
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Read in April, 2008
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 di...more
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3 comments
Read in January, 2002
recommended to Shriya by:
Hari
I read this book a long time ago for the first time, but only recently since then. I'd forgotten what a good author John Irving was- or maybe it's just that at 12 years of age, I wasn't able to appreciate everything he was getting at.
I really liked this book for the way in which it makes me laugh - at especially unfunny situations. Frank and his cymbals. Egg who was named egg, because well, he was just an agg when he was conceived. Lilly who tried to grow - and maybe everyone else should ha...more
I really liked this book for the way in which it makes me laugh - at especially unfunny situations. Frank and his cymbals. Egg who was named egg, because well, he was just an agg when he was conceived. Lilly who tried to grow - and maybe everyone else should ha...more
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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 prosti...more
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 prosti...more
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I read this book in my twenties and loved it. Reading it again reminds of how I thought and felt when I was that age.
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Interesting becasue two adult sibling have intercourse. (I think I'm thinking of this book.) Also, if I remember correctly, a bear plays a prominent role in the later part of this nove.
I'm not a huge fan of John Irving, but I did managed to read several of his books during my early adulthood.
I'm not a huge fan of John Irving, but I did managed to read several of his books during my early adulthood.
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Read in February, 1983
My good friend Jenny was reading this book in high school about the same time the Jodie Foster starring movie came out. I didn't quite finish it, but there were some occurrences in the book that I didn't see in the movie that I thought were interesting. Something about a bear suit/costume.....
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3 comments
Read in October, 2008
recommended to Carrie by:
Amazon/Goodreadsrecommends it for: All
I give this a 4.5 of 5... the last 2 pages are magnificent.
Although I am familiar John Irving's writing (most notably for his Ocsar winning screenplay adapted from 1985 Cider House Rules) this was my first experience as a reader of his creative stories.
Unfamiliar with his writing style, I was often shocked by the blunt twists and turns of this story. Even the most fragile experiences of sibiling love and death take peculiar paths... but in the end the author weaves a original and creati...more
Although I am familiar John Irving's writing (most notably for his Ocsar winning screenplay adapted from 1985 Cider House Rules) this was my first experience as a reader of his creative stories.
Unfamiliar with his writing style, I was often shocked by the blunt twists and turns of this story. Even the most fragile experiences of sibiling love and death take peculiar paths... but in the end the author weaves a original and creati...more
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in February, 2007
i loved this book.
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Read in August, 2008
This book seems to thumb its nose at the 1-5 star rating scale, and I almost can't decide what to think of it. Five stars? Well, the first part of the novel--the First Hotel New Hampshire--is certainly worth that. Four stars? In places, yes. Three stars? The ending, in the epilogue and the Third Hotel. Two stars and one star? Jesus God, the Second Hotel, Vienna, the return of Freud--and that bear!
In a way, The Hotel New Hampshire feels partly like a companion novel to The World According to Garp....more
In a way, The Hotel New Hampshire feels partly like a companion novel to The World According to Garp....more
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Rachel by:
Tina
This book was a little difficult at first; it took me a good hundred pages or so to figure out that Irving was not going to spare my feelings and prance around subjects that are at all distasteful. By the end of the novel, the reader is subjected to incidents of rape, incest, death, murder, suicide, terrorism, prostitution, pornography, and pretty much any other trauma imaginable. Yet Irving treats these events with such nonchalance that they become non-issues; it's as if he's trying to i...more
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Read in January, 2008
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in October, 2008
recommended to Annie by:
MishaThis review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in March, 2007
Mi primer Irving. Y me gusta, me gusta, a pesar de que hay alguna serie de defectos que en otras circunstancias normalmente hacen que se me agote la paciencia. Me refiero al hecho de que es un libro en lo que importa no son los personajes sino la trama. Quiero decir que en este libro Papá podría haber sido interpretado por Frank, Frank por Egg, Egg por Franny, Franny por Lilly, y esencialmente nada hubiera cambiado. Los personajes sólo son excusas que van a remolque de la trama. En ocasiones ...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
quixotic dreamers
I love this novel despite its flaws. It's rare when you read a great novel that shows its flaws so openly, but still manages to be a good novel. I don't recomend this as the first John Irving book for anyone to read. I'd say, make it your third or fourth. This book tends to do what I've never seen any novels do and which is not necessarily a good thing which is list off what is going on rather than describe it. It sort of reads as a really brilliant first draft for a book that isn't finished and...more
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Dark, sad, funny, joyous, risque, poignant, frank, bizarre....The Hotel New Hampshire is a little bit of everything and definitely worth the read.
I started reading this book in 1981, on the way to my Dad's graduation from boot camp. I was car sick, stuck in the backseat of the car on a 9 hour drive, far younger than the intended audience, and I couldn't put this book down (And before you ask: Yes, I understood what I was reading. Adults don't give kids who read enough credit for their cogn...more
I started reading this book in 1981, on the way to my Dad's graduation from boot camp. I was car sick, stuck in the backseat of the car on a 9 hour drive, far younger than the intended audience, and I couldn't put this book down (And before you ask: Yes, I understood what I was reading. Adults don't give kids who read enough credit for their cogn...more
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