Eric's review
The World According to Garp
by John Irving
Eric's review
The World According to Garp by John Irving
Eric's review
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fiction
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...more
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...more
