Product Description

'Like all extraordinary books, "The World According to Garp" defies synopsis', wrote the "Chicago Sun Times" when "Garp" was first published in 1978. It is a marvellous, important, permanent novel by a serious artist of remarkable powers. "Garp" is a book that captivates all who read it. Peopled with the most extraordinary characters you will ever meet, here is a novel that will make you laugh, make you weep, and, above all, make you think.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7017 in Books
• Published on: 1986-07-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 591 pages

From the Back Cover
'Like all extraordinary books, The World According to Garp defies synopsis...' wrote the Chicago Sun-Times when Garp was first published in 1978. It is a marvellous, important, permanent novel by a serious artist of remarkable powers...

Garp is a book that captivates all who read it. Peopled with the most extraordinary characters you will ever meet, here is a novel that will make you laugh, make you weep, and, above all, make you think.

About the Author
John Irving
John Irving was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1942, and he once admitted that he was a 'grim' child. Although he excelled in English at school and knew by the time he graduated that he wanted to write novels, it was not until he met a young Southern novelist named John Yount, at the University of New Hampshire, that he received encouragement. 'It was so simple,' he remembers. 'Yount was the first person to point out that anything I did except writing was going to be vaguely unsatisfying.'

In 1963, Irving enrolled at the Institute of European Studies in Vienna, and he later worked as a university lecturer. His first novel, Setting Free the Bears, about a plot to release all the animals from the Vienna Zoo, was followed by The Water-Method Man, a comic tale of a man with a urinary complaint, and The 158-Pound Marriage, which exposes the complications of spouse-swapping. Irving achieved international recognition with The World According to Garp, which he hoped would 'cause a few smiles among the tough-minded and break a few softer hearts'.

The Hotel New Hampshire is a startlingly original family saga, and The Cider House Rules is the story of Doctor Wilbur Larch - saint, obstetrician, founder of an orphanage, ether addict and abortionist - and of his favourite orphan, Homer Wells, who is never adopted. A Prayer for Owen Meany features the most unforgettable character Irving has yet created. A Son of the Circus is an extraordinary evocation of modern day India. John Irving's latest and most ambitious novel is A Widow for One Year.

A collection of John Irving's shorter writing, Trying to Save Piggy Sneed, was published in 1993. Irving has also written the screenplays for The Cider House Rules and A Son of the Circus, and wrote about his experiences in the world of movies in his memoir My Movie Business.

Irving has had a life-long passion for wrestling, and he plays a wrestling referee in the film of The World According to Garp. In his memoir, The Imaginary Girlfriend, John Irving writes about his life as a wrestler, a novelist and as a wrestling coach. He now writes full-time, has three children and lives in Vermont and Toronto.

Customer Reviews

"Imagining something is better than remembering something."
That is, if you have as good an imagination as John Irving.

I had heard great things about John Irving, and had it not been for this fact I would have never launched myself into a 600 page novel. I am easily bored. Even despite its recommendations I was still unprepared for how I would react to The World According to Garp.

The novel begins by narrating the unusual circumstances surrounding Garp's entrance into the world, i.e. from the perspective of his mother. Although its is a long book, I really felt that every word was necessary, and points are woven together throughout the novel. The story climaxes towards the end, by which time you are grateful for the extra pages.

Garp is a writer, and this book is about writing, and the world 'according to a writer,' and especially a father. Irving writes in his afterword that his book is about a father's fear of losing his children. He says: "I'm just a father with a good imagination. In my imagination I lose my children every day."

The fun thing is we get to read Garp's writing, too, and his best work, a short story called The Pension Grillparzer (don't ask!) has actually been published as a separate book in its own right. We get to know Garp through his writing and through the other characters, as well as through Irving's voice. A very inventive novel, pushing the boundaries of fiction, not just its shape, but its subject too.

This book made me laugh. The comedy is so closely intertwined with the tragedy that you feel personally involved with the joke. You experience pain with humour, tragedy with farce, and warmth all the way through. You never know what is going to happen next. I know what I'm going to do next: read some more Irving!

A wonderful book!
This really is a wonderful book; alternately hysterically funny and surreal, and at one point heartbreakingly sad. From the very first page, you are drawn into Garp's peculiar world. The characters are fully-developed and the plot races along at a cracking pace.

It's a bit of a cliché to say that a book can make you laugh and also make you cry, but in this case it's true. If this is the first John Irving book you read, it certainly won't be the last.

Set aside a couple of completely free days to read it - once you start, you won't want to put it down.

A blockbuster of hilarity
This is an incredible book. It has a LOT of black humour which is characteristic of John Irving. If you have an ironic, dark sense of humour then this book is definitely for you.
This is the first and best Irving book I have read. It covers the life of Garp (who was conceived in a funny way...no, maybe I shouldn't get into that! Just buy the book and you'll get what I mean!)
Anyway, if you want a book that will make you laugh out loud and covers the following topics with such humour it's almost genius:
1) A bitten-off penis (ouch!)
2) A society of women with their tongues cut out
3) Several transvestites
3) A prostitute with cancer
4) An assassinated nurse
Now you may be looking somewhat disgusted
or you may be amused and a little curious.
Either way - get the book. It is sooooooo funny I can't emphasise it enough!
A lovely thick read, ideal for sun-kissed holidays.
PS - can i just add my total contempt for so called 'reviewers' who simply write how crap the book/film/cd is, and how it's the worst thing they've ever read/seen/heard. Guys, that's not a review, that's just a slagging off session! You have to ANALYSE the book's good and bad points, not just say 'It's crap.' That's not reviewing. Ignore those creeps who just slag it off, prospective buyers!