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The World According to Garp
 
 
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The World According to Garp (Paperback)


4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (242 customer reviews)

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Book Description

This is the life and times of T. S. Garp, the bastard son of Jenny Fields--a feminist leader ahead of her times. This is the life and death of a famous mother and her almost-famous son; theirs is a world of sexual extremes--even of sexual assassinations. It is a novel rich with "lunacy and sorrow"; yet the dark, violent events of the story do not undermine a comedy both ribald and robust. In more than thirty languages, in more than forty countries--with more than ten million copies in print--this novel provides almost cheerful, even hilarious evidence of its famous last line: "In the world according to Garp, we are all terminal cases."


From the Back Cover

"A wonderful novel, full of energy and art."
--The Washington Post

"Nothing in contemporary fiction matches it. . . . Irving's blend of gravity and play is unique, audacious, almost blasphemous. . . . Brilliant, funny, and
consistently wise; a work of vast talent."
--The New Republic
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Customer Reviews

242 Reviews
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4.4 out of 5 stars (242 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars, Mar 23 2007
By Waddleforth (Cambodia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The World According to Garp (Mass Market Paperback)
I picked up THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP not knowing what to expect. After just a few pages, I found myself unable to put it down. The characters came to life for me. I felt I knew them.

It is cliche to say this, but I laughed, I cried. What can I say? This book moved me. Not since McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD have I had such a good time----and such a good cry.

It is very well written. The prose flows so easily, and so comfortably that you forget you are reading and truely feel you are in Garp's world. There are also lines of pure genius. What follows is one line that will stay with me for a very long time:

"In this dirty minded world, you are either somebody's wife or somebody's whore - or fast on your way to becoming one or the other. If you don't fit either category, then everyone tries to make you think there is something wrong with you."

There's something so painful, yet so true about that line. That could be said for the whole book, I suppose. Yet, this book isn't just about that line. It's not just about feminism. It's about life; about strug! gle; about fear.

It is an excellent, well-written book that everyone should read.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Miss It!, Jun 11 2005
By Laurie (Marshall, MI) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The World According to Garp (Mass Market Paperback)
Garp hooks you right from the start, when you meet his fiercely independent-minded mother, Jenny Fields, a nurse who slashes a leering soldier in a movie theater in the WWII era. Poor Jenny has no interest whatsoever in men (she is not gay...she just has no sexual interest in anyone). But the irony is, her wealthy, conservative family believes that she is rutting like a rabbit.
Jenny may not be promiscuous, but she definitely has some unconventional ideas. She wants a baby, but does not want to become involved with a man to get one. Since artificial insemination was not yet mainstream in the 1940s, she finds a vegetative soldier with whom to perform her insemination.

T. S. Garp is the result (he has no first name, just initials, in honor of the fact that his father was a Technical Sergeant). Most of the story is his, but Jenny still plays a prominent role throughout. Garp's life is unconventional, and that's putting it mildly. I won't go into detail, because I don't want to ruin the delight of reading the book and discovering it for yourself.
It becomes even more confusing when Jenny writes a book called "A Sexual Suspect," detailing her unusual life and views. It becomes a best seller, and now Garp not only knows the truth about how he was conceived, but everyone else in America knows too because the book is a best seller.

Garp is surrounded with an entertaining (and sometimes frightening) cast of supporting characters, including his wife Helen, the snobbish Percy family whose members go by nicknames such as "Cushie" and "Pooh" (his intimate relationship with one member will play a major role in his undoing at the hands of another), the horny neighbor "Mrs. Ralph," a trio of prostitutes in Vienna (one of whom wants to both mother him and have sex with him), and the lovelorn ex-football-player-turned-transexual named Robert Muldoon.

Crazy things happen to Garp throughout the book, but interestingly enough, there isn't a major point or a build-up to some sort of moral. It's more like "Seinfeld"...a book about nothing. Yet it's also a book about everything...feminism, sexuality, adultry, ambition, and even death. It's about the life of Garp, and isn't that pretty much how anyone's life is? Maybe the things that happen to most of us aren't as surreal as what happens to Irving's characters, but life is truly just a series of events and that's why Garp's world is, too.

There are some sad and disturbing parts, like the fate of Garp's youngest son. This book is loaded with humor, but it's black comedy to be sure. If you're looking for cheerily upbeat reading, this isn't the place to find it.

But I urge you to give it a try...and please, for the love of God, DO NOT watch the movie beforehand (or even afterwards). Some things are perfect as-is, and this book is one of them. But try it for yourself. Pick up a copy! Another book I need to recommend -- very much on my mind since I purchased a "used" copy off Amazon is "The Losers' Club: Complete Restored Edition," a funny, highly entertaining little novel I can't stop thinking about.

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5.0 out of 5 stars The best, Feb 11 2005
By J.Jones - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: The World According to Garp (Mass Market Paperback)
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP by John Irving, is the story of an ordinary man with an extraordinary life. This man is T. S. Garp, illegitimate son of famous feminist Jenny Fields and Technical Sergeant Garp (hence the 'T. S.'), a severely wounded American soldier. Before Ms. Fields was famous, she was a feminist by nature, and though she wished to have a child, she did not wish to have any sort of relationship with a man. So when Technical Sergeant Garp is brought into the hospital where she works as a nurse with shrapnel in his brain, Jenny realizes that she has found the perfect father for her son. The rest of the story is as amazing as the manner in which Garp is conceived. It chronicles his life as a struggling writer living in the shadow of his mother's fame. The only true immortality is the written word in "The World According to Garp." Garp spends most of the novel attempting to write his classic, the book that will make him famous and thus immortal. I was reminded at time of the work of Jackson McCrae, especially his BARK OF THE DOGWOOD or his CHILDREN'S CORNER --the writing is just that good, deep, and well constructed. Irving helps convey the theme to the readers by constantly using foreshadowing. There is little that happens in this novel that the reader does not have at least a slight inkling about prior to its occurrence. Whereas with other authors this may have made the story boring and predictable, Irving utilizes this element in a way that keeps the reader guessing, occasionally hinting at things that do not actually happen or things unrelated to the main story. Overall, the theme is expressed clearly but not blatantly.
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT!
To be honest, this book was my first one of John Irving's, but i must say: IT WON'T BE THE LAST! John Irving pulls you into this book of loves, lusts, and life. Read more
Published on Jul 19 2004 by petkov

5.0 out of 5 stars An Irving Classic
This book (like all of Irving's, possibly with the exception of The Fourth Hand), is phenomenal. Not only was this book captivating, but it also had me laughing out loud. Read more
Published on Jul 8 2004

2.0 out of 5 stars Irving novel is Garpist - NOT feminist
As much as I wanted to like this creative, quirky novel, I could not move past the arrogance of the protagonist and the constantly belittling of every female character. Read more
Published on Jul 1 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my all time favorites
The World According to Garp is not a typical novel. It flows like a human life; many ups and downs. And as with life, you never know what is coming next.
Published on Jun 28 2004 by M. MCDONALD

5.0 out of 5 stars He's no Richard Russo, but Irving gets it right with TWATG
John Irving is quite a storyteller. Read other reviews to get a synopsis, but this is basically the life story of Garp, an unlikely hero. Read more
Published on Jun 18 2004 by H. Huggins

5.0 out of 5 stars What a pleasure
I took my time reading this book, in fact I finished it only after a few months of reading it. The reason for this is that this book I used as an escape from my world. Read more
Published on Jun 13 2004 by Dylan v.d Merwe

1.0 out of 5 stars Avoid Audiobook Version
I was a "Garp" fan from the day the book first appeared, and have personally owned and given away close to 50 copies in the past 20+ years. Read more
Published on Jun 1 2004 by D. Antoine

5.0 out of 5 stars funny funny funny
this book is hard to describe without ruining it, i'll just say that i was able to read it continuously even though i was in San Sebastián Spain on the beach while i was reading it
Published on May 26 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book
A story of three generations in a highly atypical family. Comic to the point of inducing laughter out loud, this book exposes intense psychological issues (such as the need for... Read more
Published on April 11 2004 by J. Jacobs

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful But Unlikely Story
John Irving is a very thorough and gifted storyteller. I had familiarity with some of his previous work, but only recently discovered "The World According to Garp". Read more
Published on April 10 2004 by JMack

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