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Dec 17, 2009

Sharon rated it:

this book is so unique in that it's absolutely not what you would expect from john irving. It's only his second or third book, and you can see the beginnings of Garp in it, but it's so simple and streamlined compared to some of his later work. It's a sweet, funny story with extremely memorable characters - in fact, I can't believe it hasn't been made into a movie yet. I think it's crying out to be. A movie about a book about the making of a movie.
Also, it made me start going around flippi More...

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Jun 06, 2011

wally rated it:

1 Yogurt & Lots of Water
Her gynecologist recommended Dr. Jean Claude Vigneron to Fred “Bogus” Trumper, the eye-narrator of this story. Ralph Packer named him Thump-Thump. Tulpen calls him by his surname, Trumper. Urinary tract is a winding road…they are both 28. Merrill Overturf is still lost…lives w/Tulpen.
2 War-Built Things
This chapter t’would appear to take a 3rd-person look through…
Fred likes to remember Merrill Overturf, the diabetic, who called him Boggle. The I More...

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Jun 22, 2010

Jaslo rated it:

Um. What a hot mess!! It started with an interesting narrative voice and Irving's usual brilliance with language but took a turn for the...dare I say it...BORING!! Talk about creative writing, my beloved Johnny went wild in this book...going from epistolary, to screen play script, to third person, to first, to bizarro collage. Too creative. The transitions from one time and place to another lost me. Am I in Maine or Vienna? Am I asleep or daydreaming or is this happening?? And certain lines feel More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 04, 2009

Erin rated it:

I was disappointed by The Water-Method Man, which is John Irving's second book. No agent would be able to sell this book today; the story is interesting, but the execution is weak. Irving's prose is confusing and inconsistent, with jumps from first to third person and seemingly random changes in POV. Furthermore, the narrative has so many flashbacks that it is difficult to follow what is happening now, versus one year ago, versus two, three or four years ago.

The main character, Fr More...

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Jun 02, 2009

Fred rated it:

I was pleasantly surprised in reading this early John Irving novel to find so many precursors of the documentary style I first encountered in The World According to Garp. In addition to both first-person and third-person passages of narrative, the book is filled with letters, bits of film scripts, translations of a supposed Nordic epic, and other bits of ephemera. Irving's liberal doses of humor, much of it morose if not actually dark, are also on display, as is his skill at creating memorable, More...

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Nov 05, 2010

Rebecca rated it:

After seeing "Cider House Rules" at Book-It this past season, I decided to revisit John Irving- I didn't realize how many of his books I hadn't read (he's quite a bit more prolific than I thought.) Water Method Man is one of his earlier novels, and while it was a good read, it wasn't *great.* It includes those recurring Irving obsessions with Vienna, big women, and uncomfortable sexual situations. There's even the compulsory mention of a character who used to wrestle (although it's not More...

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Dec 07, 2008

Keri rated it:

This is one of his earlier books, and it is amazingly written. The first sentence alone still makes me shake my head in wonder.

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Dec 16, 2009

christa added it

i want to read this because the main character has frequent urinary tract infections. but i cannot get into it.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 10, 2011

Andy rated it:

It didn't take long to get into this one, but the character depth was a bit lacking. I never really felt too much for any of them, but maybe Irving intended to write a story about people who aren't especially good or bad. Just people.

The story follows Fred Trumper during a period of being rudderless through college. Becoming a hapless half of a pair of accidental parents. Feeling smothered. Leaving his wife and son and running off to Europe for an extended period seeking to reconnect w More...

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Jan 09, 2011

Eric rated it:

The Water-Method Man explores the life and times of Fred "Bogus" "Thump-Thump" Trumper. The story investigates Bogus' relationships with his ex-wife and son, his friends (one of whom is his ex-wife's new lover), his relationship with his current girlfriend, and with his work. The story revolves around the fact that Bogus is a man who has trouble finishing things which he starts. It is told through various mechanisms of flash-backs, current day stories, drug induced memorie More...

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Nov 12, 2008

Daneka rated it:

Strangely enough, I thought it was crude. I put it down.

5 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 06, 2009

Simon rated it:

This, my first John Irving Novel, has resurrected the rare feeling one gets from well written novels (the `good reading' feeling). This feeling is hard to bring about these days. It makes me wonder whether I should be looking for good novels written twenty and even thirty years ago. Are the authors of today writing for the sake of the buck, requiring only tenth grade reading comprehension? Why insult our intelligence? Why the cruelty against the sophisticated reader?

Where can one fi More...

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Aug 02, 2011

Maria rated it:

I hated it and loved it... mmm. The beginnig is interesting, the middle is disconnected, and the last part gives meaning to the whole thing. Weird, ha? That's the genious of John Irving. Irving is like a child who runs faster than his feet. He tries to comunicate so many feelings and ideas at the same time, that they all come crashing down without being fully understood. Oh, the symbolism, the hidden philosophy! This novel, I had to force myself to read at times; but it paid off at the en More...

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Aug 02, 2010

Angelique rated it:

Eh. I decided after enjoying the Fourth Hand so much, I'd only read Irving until I finished everything he has written. This turned out not to be a mistake so much, but a bit of a let down. I think this book is too all over the place in a sloppy not purposeful way. Some of the humour is classic and brilliant (boob loop!) but generally it was a push to read it. It took me over two weeks to finish this and 4 days to finish The Fourth Hand and that, speaks a lot for this work.

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Jul 02, 2011

Emma rated it:

I suppose it wouldn't truly be summer if I didn't read at least a little bit of Irving.

This book struck me in much the same way that the main character seems to strike everyone he meets, which is to say predictably and not all that interestingly. I didn't hate it, but the book seemed to wander, lost without much of a plot or goal in mind. Irving does manage to do some fun things with time though. And as always there were the favorite themes: Vienna and wrestling and prostitutes and Ne More...

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Jul 29, 2010

Rebekkila rated it:

In the middle of reading this, the cover fell off. Then the pages started to come out in chunks. So in true Southern tradition I duct taped this thing back together. I did use clear duct tape, but I don't think it is fit to be released. I loved the book. This was my third John Irving and I have loved them all. I laughed out loud at parts of the story. Trumper may have been a loser, bt he did it with style.

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May 22, 2010

Ruth rated it:

[close:] The main character of John Irving's second novel, written when the author was twenty-nine, is a perpetual graduate student with a birth defect in his urinary tract--and a man on the threshold of committing himself to a second marriage that bears remarkable resemblance to his first....
"Three or four times as funny as most novels."
THE NEW YORKER

From the Paperback edition. [close:]

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Jun 30, 2009

Chenoa rated it:

Easily the best part of this book is either the "most amazing" boob loop scene or "thump-thump's" encounter with the rather odd but amusing duck hunters. Otherwise it's just some guy that's gone through a bad marriage has no relationship with his parents, and can't pee right. Some funny stuff though. As for what i've learned...avoid drunk guys with ski poles. Hahahaha

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Sep 19, 2011

Kelly rated it:

the summer after my 3rd year in college I read everything major that john Irving'd ever published...everything from setting free the bears to a prayer for Owen meany. back-to-back viewings of film versions of the world according to garp and the hotel new Hampshire sent me on a summer-long John Irving reading binge. i'm pretty sure this is the book that ended it.

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Mar 31, 2009

Lenore rated it:

part of it takes place in iowa city, and the protagonist is a PhD student with an unfinished dissertation looming over everything he does. for these reasons alone i found the book engaging. it's one of the few irving texts that makes the underlying sexism tolerable.

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Mar 05, 2009

Greg rated it:

I couldn't even count the number of times I laughed out loud reading this. I wasn't totally sold on the structure--Irving switches between first and third person and the story is told partly in flashback--but I thought the characters and story lovable enough.

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Aug 02, 2011

Christopher rated it:

Quite a delightful early novel of Irving’s with great story in story, particularly playing with the forms of diary, screenwriting, and novel structure.

A quote: “You should always tell stories, Trumper knew, in such a way that you make the audience feel good and wise, even a little ahead of you.”

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Jun 07, 2010

Patrick rated it:

This novel is an enigmatic story written early in Mr. Irving's career. There are moments when it is tough to root for the main character. Fred "Bogus" Trumper is not the archetype main character, his personal failures and social awkwardness are a hallmark of Irving's material. We follow Bogus through the ups and downs of his young adulthood. Bogus is the obvious forerunner of the main character in "A Prayer for Owen Meany." The descriptions of social situations are thoro More...

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Dec 26, 2009

Sarah rated it:

Funny, goofy, quirky. Irving has many better efforts than this, even still, I enjoyed it. I won't pretend to have any objectivity when it comes to John Irving. He always entertains me, even when he half-asses it.

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Sep 01, 2008

Sallie Ben rated it:

Irving was young when he wrote this one and I believe it is part of three books that he often bundles together. There was a formula in the book of which I have never been fond; he wrote the main fiction and had a counter fable running through the book at the same time, foreshadowing the "real" story and acting as companion piece. I have never liked that method of storytelling but I did like this book, if for no other reason than when he writes about common human foibles he is so damn More...

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Mar 05, 2009

Terry rated it:

Reading Irvings pre-Garp work is a terrific study in how he found his voice and went on to entertain us for 4 more great novels before he lost his way in India and has yet to come back home.

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Aug 31, 2010

Sherry rated it:

Irving's second novel is just as jumpy as his later ones, although this one probably more so. At times it can be hard to follow as it juggles between present day and several different pasts. However, it's probably one of his most comedic books, and I found myself laughing out loud on more than one occasion.

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Aug 08, 2011

Thea rated it:

While there were several things that I liked about this one, I don't remember specific elements that impressed me. IMHO, not his best novel, but that may just be my faulty memory.

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Apr 30, 2010

David rated it:

Amusing early Irving. I read it during a week-long vacation in Mexico. It's that kind of book. Shortish -- compared to "Garp" and other Irving doorstops -- and seemingly autobiographical.

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Jul 28, 2009

Jim rated it:

A funny, well-written, Irving romp, with the usual suspects of wrestleing, bears and whores.

Trumper is having difficulty sustaining interst in his Ph. D. thesis - translation of an obscure text from the old Low Norse. The text it turns out is the barbaric outline for his life, less the beheadings, of course. Treumper has to reconcile with his ex-wife, his new wife, who was his boss' previous girlfriend. He is saveds by a film of his life made by his boss, Raplh, that has a surpris More...

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