mary's review
The World According to Garp
by John Irving
mary's review
The World According to Garp by John Irving
mary's review
rating:
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 what i learned, again at a too young age, is that the dirty, dark and crazy melodrama is the best part of any existence. the juicy stuff is what makes us tick.
this book is a must-read. it goes rather quickly, rollicking through the lives and sexual escapades of the characters without much time to catch a breath. you will keep reading just to know if something more ridiculous will happen soon, but find yourself surprised at your attachment to the characters. even when irving becomes a bit o...more
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 what i learned, again at a too young age, is that the dirty, dark and crazy melodrama is the best part of any existence. the juicy stuff is what makes us tick.
this book is a must-read. it goes rather quickly, rollicking through the lives and sexual escapades of the characters without much time to catch a breath. you will keep reading just to know if something more ridiculous will happen soon, but find yourself surprised at your attachment to the characters. even when irving becomes a bit o...more
