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The World According to Garp

(Modern Library)

By John Irving

(170)

| Hardcover | 9780679603061

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Book Description

                                          


The World According to Garp is a comContinue

                                          


The World According to Garp is a comic  and compassionate coming-of-age novel that established John Irving as one of the most imaginative writers of his generation. A worldwide bestseller
since its publication in 1978, Irving's classic is filled with stories inside stories about the life and times of T. S. Garp, novelist and bastard son of Jenny Fields--a feminist leader ahead of her time. Beyond that, The World According to Garp virtually defies
synopsis.
----"Nothing in contemporary fiction matches it," said critic Terrence Des Pres. "Irving's blend of gravity and play is unique, audacious, almost blasphemous. . . . Friendship, marriage and family are his primary themes, but at that blundering level of life where mishap and folly--something close to joyful malice--perpetually intrude and disrupt, often fatally. Life, in Irving's fiction, is always under siege." Time magazine commented: "Irving's popularity is not hard to understand. His world is really the world according to nearly everyone."
----This Modern Library edition includes a new Introduction by the author.

The Modern Library has played a significant role in American cultural life for the better part of a century. The series was founded in 1917 by the publishers Boni and Liveright and eight years later acquired by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. It provided the foundation for their next publishing venture, Random House. The Modern Library has been a staple of the American book trade, providing readers with affordable hardbound editons of impor-tant works of literature and thought. For the Modern Library's seventy-fifth anniversary, Random House
redesigned the series, restoring
as its emblem the running torchbearer created by Lucian Bernhard in 1925 and refurbishing jackets, bindings, and type, as well as inaugurating a new program of selecting titles. The Modern Library continues to provide the world's best books, at the best prices.

9 Reviews

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  • *** This comment contains spoilers! ***

    This took me quite a while to read, and I'm still not quite sure what to think of it.. I like John Irving's writing style, the story was quite amusing, strange, and also very sad at times. But it was rather long and dragged a bit in the middle (with all those stories inside the story too), and not s ... (continue)

    This took me quite a while to read, and I'm still not quite sure what to think of it.. I like John Irving's writing style, the story was quite amusing, strange, and also very sad at times. But it was rather long and dragged a bit in the middle (with all those stories inside the story too), and not sure what to whole point was (just that everyone dies..?).
    It was funny to see that both Garp and Irving are annoyed by the question whether their work is autobiographical (something I usually don't care about. But there seemed to be some similarities in The World According to Garp/Garp's life and The World According to Bensenhaver (the reviews/blurbs as well - feminist book by a man or something like that) and perhaps Irving's life as well? Or maybe he just made everything up :p).
    Anyway, I guess I enjoyed the story overall, even if it could have been a bit shorter.
    Seems there is a movie too, am quite curious to see how they've managed to capture Garp's whole life in a couple of hours..

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    Tsjara said on Mar 27, 2012 about the Mass Market Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • I loved this book from the start. Then I felt unconfortable, then I loved it again. In the end I would describe it as eccentric, a grotesque family saga seasoned with independent short stories. Although I could never relate to any character in the story, because of their grotesque qualities, and the ... (continue)

    I loved this book from the start. Then I felt unconfortable, then I loved it again. In the end I would describe it as eccentric, a grotesque family saga seasoned with independent short stories. Although I could never relate to any character in the story, because of their grotesque qualities, and therefore never really feel for them, I found their sad lives ecceptionally realistic in their improbability. A very modern look at the society we still live in.

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    Sourcreamandonions said on Apr 28, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • *** This comment contains spoilers! ***

    I know this book is a bestseller and that Mr. Irving is well thought of, but I personally hated this book. It started off very good. It made me laugh a lot, but after a while esp. about the time I got to "The Pension Grillpazer." It upset me that Irving violated a general rule in writing; do not un ... (continue)

    I know this book is a bestseller and that Mr. Irving is well thought of, but I personally hated this book. It started off very good. It made me laugh a lot, but after a while esp. about the time I got to "The Pension Grillpazer." It upset me that Irving violated a general rule in writing; do not under any circumstances write a book about a writer writing a book.The book just dragged on, and though I understood that it was supposed to be about Garp's life, I wanted it to wrap up already. The book stopped being interesting about the time Jenny Fields was made into a feminist hero. I do have to say there were a few well written parts beyond that esp. the affair that Helen has, but I found it all and all tedious. It angered me completely that I had to ask someone else who had read it what the book was about, even though I was reading it. It was seriously not my cup of tea. I wanted to read more of his work originally, but now I think I need a rest break.

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    Charley Snipe said on Jul 2, 2008 about the Mass Market Paperback edition | Add your feedback

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9780679603061 Hardcover $24.00 $20.52 bn.com
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