The World According to Garp

published	1999 by Ballantine Books
first published	1978
binding	Hardcover
isbn	0345915593 (isbn13: 9780345915597)
literary awards	1978 National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee
description	"Garp was a natural storyteller," says the narrator of John Irving's incandescent novel, referring to the book's hero, the novelist Garp, wh...more [close] "Garp was a natural storyteller," says the narrator of John Irving's incandescent novel, referring to the book's hero, the novelist Garp, who has much in common with Irving himself. "He could make things up one right after the other, and they seemed to fit." Irving packs wild characters and weird events into his classic--officially recognized as such in a Modern Library edition with a new introduction by the author--while amazingly maintaining the rough feel of realism in every scene and the pulse of life in every heart. Many novelists of his time might have populated a novel with a novelist protagonist whose life and books comment on each other and the novel we're reading. Transsexual football players, ball turret gunners lobotomized in battle, multiple adultery, unicycling bears, mad feminists who amputate their tongues in sympathy with the celebrated victim of a horrifying rape--Irving made them all people. Even the bear is a fitting character. In a crucial episode, Garp's wife's seduction of a young man coincidentally occurs at the moment when Garp is delighting their young sons with a reckless car trick (one of the few scenes beautifully, eerily, heartbreakingly captured in the film version as well). Many authors would have been content with the harsh comedy of the scene, but Irving respects its integrity, and he builds the rest of the book on the consequences of the event. How does he get away with his killer cocktail of slapstick and horror? Because it's simply what we all face daily, rearranged into soul-satisfying art. "Life is an X-rated soap opera," according to Garp, and who can contradict him? Rereading Garp 20 years later, one is struck by how elegantly Irving structures his bizarre and complex story. Take the two most celebrated bits in the book, the Under Toad and Garp's story "The Pension Grillparzer," which shimmers like an exquisite Kafkaesque insect in the amber of the novel. When Garp warns his son about the "undertow" at the beach, the boy imagines a monster out of Beowulf who lurks beneath the waves to suck you under: the "Under Toad." It's funny at first, but we soon find that the Under Toad is a metaphor with teeth--he connects with a prophetic dream of death in "The Pension Grillparzer," set in Vienna. Garp's son's last words are, "It's like a dream!" And as Irving--who studied at the University of Vienna--can certainly tell you, the German word for "death" sounds precisely like the English word "toad." All that death, and yet Garp is mainly exuberant. This story is, as Garp's stuttering writing teacher puts it, "rich with lu-lu-lunacy and sorrow." It enriches literature, and our lives. --Tim Appelo
date added	12-08-06 edit book

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bonnie rated it:

04/22/08

Read in March, 2008

Possible mild spoiler alert? I try to keep my reviews to what a "real" book review would contain - this necessitates some detail. After all, what good is a review that provides only information available on the back cover combined with "I liked it" or "I didn't"? That said, someone apparently thinks this particular review of mine contains too much. So consider yourself warned.

The book starts by explaining how Garp came to be by introducing Garp's mother, the hea...more Possible mild spoiler alert? I try to keep my reviews to what a "real" book review would contain - this necessitates some detail. After all, what good is a review that provides only information available on the back cover combined with "I liked it" or "I didn't"? That said, someone apparently thinks this particular review of mine contains too much. So consider yourself warned.

The book starts by explaining how Garp came to be by introducing Garp's mother, the headstrong and self-assured nurse Jenny Fields. Jenny Fields decides she wants one baby but has no desire for sex or male companionship-she is not infected by lust, the theme of lust being one this book beats you over the head with. This unlikely beginning has got to be my favorite part of the whole book. Jenny Fields is an intriguing and at least initially likeable character. The first few chapters nicely set the tone of storytelling, another of the book's dominant themes. Moments of lighthearted irony abound.

So Jenny Fields comes by her one baby in a resourceful and innovative, albeit bizarre, manner, and never tells anyone the details. The book continues from the perspective of Jenny, now a school nurse at a prestigious boys' school, as little T.S. Garp grows up. Jenny and Garp go to Vienna after he graduates from high school, to write - for Jenny, her autobiography, for Garp, a novel. Jenny publishes her wildly popular memoir, which instigates, or at least capitalizes on, a political movement. From this point forward, the book spirals downward for me.

I wasn't drawn to any of the characters after the initial connection with Jenny Fields. Most are cliche, farfetched, or actively annoy me. I never liked Garp's wife, the stuck-up, bookish and brilliant yet strikingly beautiful Helen Holm. The post-operation transgendered football player, Roberta, bored met to tears. After the narrative switched to Garp-centric, I lost my connection to Jenny, too, though I still enjoyed her presence and looked forward to her opinions on various things.

The book contains large chunks of Garp's writing, set off in a different font. This technique is necessary to illustrate the distinctions and similarities between Garp's truth and his craft, without which it's not possible to really know what Irving wants you to know about Garp. I came around to the intermittent excerpts by the end, but the first few times I was irritated by the distraction.

In the latter half, Irving exchanges the whimsical irony of the first chapters for a dark, beat you over the head version that dangerously approaches "if you do this bad thing, HORRIBLE things will happen including mutilation and DEATH."

And speaking of irony, I must mention the "Ellen Jamesians," those tortured women who cut off their tongues in solidary with a young rape victim named Ellen James, whose perpetrator did that to her. This group of women is, of course, a blatant example of the fervor for a noble cause gotten out of hand. Neither Garp nor Ellen James herself can muster any sympathy for the Ellen Jamesians, and this rather high-profile conflict is what ultimately brings the book to a resolution. The problem for me was that this was just too caricatured. First, I had trouble accepting that the rapist would cut out the girl's tongue thinking that would prevent her from identifying him (even though the book ridiculed the rapist for his stupidity in doing so). Even accepting that, it seemed beyond even the most extreme versions of reality to think that any notable number of people would cut off their tongues for this reason (even though the book alternatively ridiculed and felt sorry for them for doing so).

But maybe the book, with all its excerpted fiction-within-fiction, was intended as a caricature. I am reminded of the chapter where Helen guesses which parts of the story Garp had just told his young son were embellished. In translating reality, Garp has the control to manipulate any detail, which may improve it, intensify it, or change its goal entirely. In the latter half of the book we see Garp lose control over that truth/fiction distinction, interestingly producing a work that is shocking but feels "real." Perhaps The World According to Garp is the other kind of story - one containing carefully buried truth that isn't supposed to feel "real."

The book kept my interest in spite of my negative impression of its trajectory. This, too, occurs in the story - as one character, in reacting to Garp's third novel, says (not verbatim): "Like it? What's to like about it?! It's horrible! can I have a copy?"...less

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Glen rated it:

12/14/07

Read in December, 2007

Prior to reading this book, I had only read half of one novel by John Irving. I'm not going to mention the title here because I don't think it's quite fair to speak ill of a book which I didn't even finish, but suffice to say that I had no immediate plans to read another half of any of his work. That changed though when a friend talked me into taking The World According to Garp on a trip that I was planning. I thought the book was fantastic, and since I have no life I'm going to spend Friday ...more Prior to reading this book, I had only read half of one novel by John Irving. I'm not going to mention the title here because I don't think it's quite fair to speak ill of a book which I didn't even finish, but suffice to say that I had no immediate plans to read another half of any of his work. That changed though when a friend talked me into taking The World According to Garp on a trip that I was planning. I thought the book was fantastic, and since I have no life I'm going to spend Friday night writing an overly detailed review on the deeper themes of it for the enjoyment of the few people with the dedication to read the whole thing. I welcome any response.

Authors are often told to write about what they know because they are already de facto experts. Inevitably this leads to "autobiographical fiction". This can range from an autobiography which is published as fiction (i.e. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath) all the way to a fanciful tale that is sold as an autobiography (A Million Little Pieces by James Frey). There are some people that say that they only read non-fiction because they prefer something "true" or "genuine" as opposed to something that an author just "made up". These are the people that should read The World According to Garp.

When we read fiction, we are omniscient. A character once committed to paper cannot change; they grow only to the extent that our understanding of them grows. The essence of the character, however, does not change. Jay Gatsby is the same person today that he was in the 1920s. I would argue that because of this immutability we have the capacity to truly know a fictional character better than we will ever know either a memoirist, or one of our intimate friends. To illustrate my point consider this, a friend might tell you that they are admiring your new hardwood floors; but only an author can tell you that our protagonist couldn't make eye contact belying the guilt they felt at the way they coveted your hardwood floors upon which they gazed. Few people are self aware enough to make those observations in retrospective memoirs, and the social contract doesn't engender that kind of honesty in day to day life.

In The World According to Garp, Irving plays with the story in a way to make you assume that it's autobiographical while at the same time mocking the reader for asking whether or not it is autobiographical. It's a very sly way of critiquing one's own work. Garp tells his children a bedtime story that is clearly based on reality, but then only admits to making up the parts of the story that the listener doesn't believe. In short, anything you believe to be true is so. Anything you don't believe to be true must need improvement. The question of course being, can we improve on the truth?

While weaving readers into this maze of almost understanding, the author peppers the novel with stories from his children's childhood’s that the reader is meant to assume are in fact true. How much of this story is true? The answer of course is that it doesn't matter. When we read a novel, we read it with the hope that the author knows his characters so well and has crafted his plot so meticulously that the next event happens because it is the absolute best possible event that could carry the story forward. We cannot worry that a dramatic change in plot occurs for reasons so trite as the fact that we're reading what really happened in the event on which the story is based. That would not be fiction, and it might not even be art. To further this line of thinking, the author critiques the protagonist's writing by saying that Garp's work gets progressively weaker as his writing becomes more autobiographical.

Fiction has GOT to be better than non-fiction. If it isn't, then it would seem to imply that our dreams are no better than our reality. If that is true, then our future indeed looks grim....less

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Seth rated it:

12/28/07

bookshelves: books-that-built-me, other-fiction

Read in October, 1983

I went through an extended period in my life where I re-read this book every year(1). It's a very fun read.

You can read it as a character study, watching how Garp changes as he ages and his responsibilities mature. You can read it as an analysis of the writer's experience (the bits about Garp's writing--and especially the chapter of Garps' book The World According to Benzenhurt--are excellent). You can read it as being about his relationships, primarily with women (his mother, his wif...more

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Eric rated it:

(review of isbn 034536676X)

07/05/07

bookshelves: fiction

Read in July, 1999

Irving writes in a contemporary style of reflection, his narration jumping hither and thither rather than in a strictly linear fashion. In the early pages, as we learn of Jenny and Garp, Irving uses what I thought to be an initially astonishing method of quoting from his characters in order to reveal something of them to us. This falls into place later when both Jenny Fields and her son, Garp, are revealed to be rather successful writers. Both have odd idiosyncracies, which are highlighted throu...more Irving writes in a contemporary style of reflection, his narration jumping hither and thither rather than in a strictly linear fashion. In the early pages, as we learn of Jenny and Garp, Irving uses what I thought to be an initially astonishing method of quoting from his characters in order to reveal something of them to us. This falls into place later when both Jenny Fields and her son, Garp, are revealed to be rather successful writers. Both have odd idiosyncracies, which are highlighted through a strange series of circumstances and revelations.

Gender confusion and ideological warfare surrounding men and women and their relation and/or lack of communication between each other is merely one level of thematic exploration Irving humorously but heartfully analyzes. On its most fundamental level, The World According to Garp is simply about death, without romanticizing it as would the sprawling Victorian novelist, nor pining away in its penultimate shadow. Yet, the acts and nonactions, romances and flings, fighting and lovemaking, fears, worries, and tragedies of life are all embellished sublimely by the ultimacy of death's egalitarian presence. That is not to say that this is a morbid novel; it isn't. Rather, the presence and action of death grants both meaning and irony to the stumblings and desires of Irving's outrageous characters. I discovered, with joy, that Irving does not create insipid and absurd characters in a spirit of mockery, spitting bitterly towards hades; rather, his fictions are embellished with toothful and richly textured irony, thus establishing poignancy, meaning and the possibility of expressing something that is true.

Often, the irony is expressed in situations that are truly hilarious, and I found myself laughing out loud more than once. The comic element in this novel is rooted in a true appreciation of comedy--not the trivial, shriveled one-liners and put-downs that often passes for the "comic" in our era, but rather comedy that flows from a world view that genuinely values the subject of comedy, the human person. This is comedy of Shakespearean proportions, yet tinged with what is truly absurd, the oddness, the misunderstandings, and the stupidity of modern life.
...less

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Steven rated it:

03/13/08

bookshelves: 1001

Read in March, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

This is the third John Irving novel I have read and I think he is quite simply amazing. When I read his novels, even those that the critics have panned a bit, I laugh at loud and I am moved to tears and I marvel at his writing. Perhaps the thing I like most, though, is his ability to reference rather seemingly innocuous elements that seem so isolated and distinct and weave them together as part of a terribly intricate plot. Of course, that makes it very difficult to point out what the book i...more This is the third John Irving novel I have read and I think he is quite simply amazing. When I read his novels, even those that the critics have panned a bit, I laugh at loud and I am moved to tears and I marvel at his writing. Perhaps the thing I like most, though, is his ability to reference rather seemingly innocuous elements that seem so isolated and distinct and weave them together as part of a terribly intricate plot. Of course, that makes it very difficult to point out what the book is “about,” but as John Irving has said himself, if you are of a certain age, nobody should have to tell you what a book is “about.”

That being said, this book is about feminism, friendship, death, loss, cheating, marriage, parenthood, growing up, violence, rape, a horrible accident to a penis, toads, and of course, lust. As Jenny Fields, Garp’s mother, knows all to well, lust can be a horribly destructive force.

One of the things I liked best about the novel was a piece from John Irving himself at the end of the novel where he pointed out that one of his son’s thought that the theme of the novel was our need to want to protect those we love. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, our worst fears are realized. The tragedies suffered in this novel are almost unbearable to fathom, and they were made all the more heart-wrenching because you really felt that the characters loved and cared for one another. That fear of losing a child has got to be the worst thing ever, and for whatever reason, that idea resonated with me a bit because I think for parents who really love their children, fear of something happening to them is a universal fear.

Even now as a 30 year-old man, if folks in my family know I am going out for the evening I hear the phrase, “be careful, it’s a bad night out there.” I used to be so annoyed with that and think that it was completely embarrassing and silly. Now that I am older and I fully realize the depth and the place from which that concern comes, it makes me feel really loved.

...less

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Holly rated it:

(review of isbn 0345418018)

06/09/07

Read in May, 2007

recommends it for: middle aged people.

I think I may be too young for this book. I've done that a few times--read a book, then later realized that I just wasn't old enough for it. Take Kerouac's On the Road</>, for instance. I read it in 7th grade and thought it was dumb. Of course. Everything is still black and white then--drugs are bad, you shouldn't like bad people, and I'm going to be ___________ when I grow up. However, re-reading it near the end of college, with no idea what in the hell I'm going to do and a bit ...more

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Emily rated it: (review of isbn 034536676X)

06/05/07

Read in January, 2000

This book is one of my favorites. Because I like it so much, I'm not going to say much, except that it's always worth reading, even if you have read it before.
There's a scene in this book it's a revealed that a high-up publisher gives all his manuscripts to his cleaning lady, and she's the one that tells him whether they're worth publishing or not. When he asks her why she read a particularly disturbing novel, she answers "To find out what happens next." Later, she adds, "A book...more

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Aili rated it:

04/24/08

Read in July, 2007

Oh John Irving. You are a twisted man, who writes about twisted sex and violence between twisted characters who are clearly very thinly veiled versions of yourself. I hate you. The only reason I finished your book is that I am obsessive about finishing things.

But maybe I did this backwards -- I read A Widow for One Year first, and THEN WAtG. I think most folks do it the other way around. So all of the issues covered in Widow seemed re-hashed to me, or re-covered, or just basica...more

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mary rated it:

03/19/07

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...more

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Brooks rated it:

03/12/08

This is the story of T.S. Garp, a writer. It starts with the story of his mother, Molly Fields, a nurse, feminist, and writer. Her story is in many ways is better than Garp’s. She is the only daughter of a moderately wealthy shoe manufacturer. She decides to become a nurse to help people (spurning her family). However, she hates the lust of men. She even slices open a potential molester in a movie theater. She eventually decides she wants a child but does not want to marry. Dur...more

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Kates rated it:

09/04/07

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in August, 2007

This is one of those books where I wish they had half stars! Four stars might have been more than I was inclined to give (I tend to keep those for books I could not put down), but three just seems so harsh sometimes! It took me most of August to read this book since I was traveling for work, but I enjoyed returning to the book each time I picked it up again. A very interesting story, full of little pieces you have to go back and read again to make sure you understood the undertones of what ac...more

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Roy rated it:

01/29/08

I'd say that "Lolita" and "Love in the Time of Cholera" are the two best written books I've ever read. But if I had to pick my all time favorite book I'd probably go with "The World According to Garp". Irving takes us on the path of T.S. Garp's life from conception to death and I was enthralled every step of the way. This book is full of humanity, full of both light and dark humor, and full of insight into the human condition. Irving took over from Charles Dicke...more

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Lisa rated it:

02/03/08

bookshelves: fiction

Read in January, 2008

A near-perfect book. I've read "Garp" many times and it's one of those stories that shouldn't have made a good film and yet it did because it just took the most important parts and made them visual. It's about sex and it's about violence and it's about writing and it's about success and it's about family above all. They say no one gets to choose their family and yet most of us WOULD choose those we happen to be related to and not because we couldn't find anything better. We'd choos...more

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Jeremy rated it:

04/22/08

Read in April, 2008

With the exception of scripture, I never re-read books. There are simply too many books and too much to read. I saw the audio version of Garp in one of my libraries and thought I'd give it a listen--as I have a long commute. I last read it as a Junior in High School and I was curious as to how my perspective had changed. Indeed, my perspective had changed. As a parent, the theme of death (and the fear of death) clearly jumped out at me. I was pretty shaken up during several scenes and I must hav...more

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Laura rated it: (review of isbn 0345418018)

05/14/07

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 ...more

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Amy rated it:

04/26/08

Read in April, 2008

Why in the world do people like this book? I'm sorry but I can't possibly understand, and it isn't just because I hated the story. I didn't think that the writing itself was particularly well-done. I did like the periodic stories written by Garp that were inserted into the book, and I respect and appreciate the tragedy of the lives of the individual characters (not just that they all die at the end, but really the pain and the joy of their lives together), but those two aspects did not do eno...more

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Mike rated it:

04/08/08

Read in April, 2008

I loved this book from start to finish, much to my surprise -- as I'd said before, I read A Prayer for Owen Meany years ago and didn't much care for it. This was my second encounter with Irving, and now my only hesitation about reading more of his books is that I may be disappointed if he doesn't touch the humanity of Garp. He reminds me most of Dickens -- his deft skill at sketching characters in quick strokes but then fleshing them out fully enough to make them seem completely be...more

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Joe rated it: (review of isbn 034536676X)

06/06/07

bookshelves: classics

At its best, this book is really remarkable. It's a favorite of my mother, who gave it to me to read at 18 and then tried to take it back until I was out of college 'cos I wasn't ready for it, but by then it was too late and I was reading the thing voraciously. And truth be told I probably would have been better served reading it when I got out of college.

Now, I don't want to be one of those shor-attention-span Americans who is like "this book is a hundred pages too long" but, um, ...more

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Matt rated it:

05/09/07

Read in May, 2007
recommends it for: concise story lovers

John Irving is a lunchpail type of writer. He's not the type of writer I am, but he is one that I admire. This is my first foray into Irving and I like what I see thus far, being about halfway through at the time of this review. He has a way of brushing over vast expanses of time, but you never feel like you've missed a bit in his character's lives. You understand them; not deeply, I don't think, but they're certainly not dull and reading about their lives is a kind of treat. Not a chocolat...more

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Summ rated it:

09/05/07

Read in July, 2007

Okay, Anna. Here's what I learned from this book:
1. It's expected/acceptable for a man to have repeated affairs. But if a woman has an affair the universe will fall apart.
2. And on the flip side: "Have an affair with my wife, you're getting f***ed up." But: "Have an affair with my husband, no worries."
3. Feminists are crazy, psychotic and lonely. The sanest feminist used to be a man.

I understand that at the time this book was written (in the 70s?) it was proba...more

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