John Irving

[karanae84]

I can't believe there's no thread for my favorite author! I've read A Prayer for Owen Meany dozens of times and I'll never get over that character.

[Bianca Fransen]

Ah, John Irving. Yes, brilliant, isn't he? I still have to reread A Prayer to Owen Meany. A friend of mine told me the ending was spectaculair - and then 40 pages for the end I did not want to know it... I was afraid it might be a deception after all. Now 12 years later I defenitely want to know how it ends!!
Loved his other books too..

[Logos]

His works are protected by copyright law.

[Idril]

I'm a huge Irving fan. Although I have to say, that one of the very few books I began and then couldn't finish because it was so mind numbingly boring was his Son of the Circus but other than that one book, I have always been impressed by his ability to take the bizarre and perverse and make it seem perfectly normal and healthy. And I seriously think Owen Meany is one of the most fascinating literary characters ever created.

[Idril]

I just finished his newest novel, Until I Find You and I really can't decide whether I like it or not. It's classic Irving, bizarre, preverse, highly dysfunctial relationships that somehow work, ridiculous amounts of tragedy and coincidence and I've always found that combination of elements charming and intriguing but for some reason, this time is just came of as incredibly contrived and unnecessarily odd. There were certainly moments that I found very moving or entertaining but for the most part it just left me confused and really glad I didn't know any of these people in real life. Maybe I'm just getting too old and conventional for Irving. Has anyone else read this book and if so, what did you think of it?

[Schokokeks]

I haven't read Until I find you yet, but it's waiting on my shelf :nod: So far I've enjoyed A Prayer for Owen Meany and The Cider House Rules, and I found both remarkably good ! Owen is such an interesting, heart-breaking character, when I read the book two years ago, I found myself recently thinking "Now what would Owen do/behave in this situation?", because he left such a vived impression in my mind.
The Cider House Rules was also very much to my liking, and I've been considering for some time whether I should have a look at the movie adaption...
My next John Irving will be The World according to Garp, I think, and after that Until I find you (thick books sometimes do scare me :D).

[Sanja]

I just finished "The widow for one year" - REALLY amazing book. I wormly recommend it.

[Idril]

I haven't read Until I find you yet, but it's waiting on my shelf :nod: So far I've enjoyed A Prayer for Owen Meany and The Cider House Rules, and I found both remarkably good !

My next John Irving will be The World according to Garp, I think, and after that Until I find you (thick books sometimes do scare me :D).

A Prayer for Owen Meany is among my all time favorite books! I absolutely adore Owen and I'm actually quite fond of Hester the molester as well.;) Cider House Rules is another one that I greatly enjoyed. Before you watch the movie version of that one, know that there are a lot of changes. Irving actually wrotie the screenplay which make the changes even more surprising but then Douglas Adams wrote the screenplay for the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie and the movie is almost unrecognizable from the book so I guess things like that happen sometimes. They did attempt to make a movie of Owen Meany but they massacred the story so badly that Irving made them change the name and take any reference about it being 'based on the book' out of the advertising. It was called Simon Birch and I have stayed away from it becuase I think it would break my heart to see the story so profaned.

World According to Garp is also an amazing novel. I highly recommend it. And don't forget Hotel New Hampshire, it will have you rooting for incest but that's one of the beauties of Irving, he takes things and situations that would normally repulse you and makes them completely acceptable.

I love his earlier works, they are the reason why Irving often makes it on my favorite author lists but his later books have left me a little cold. Widow For One Year had it's moments of brilliance, as well as The Fourth Hand and Until I Find You but the overall impression they left on me wasn't nearly as positive or powerful as those earlier books and I can't decide if it's because they simply aren't as good or if I've become, as I said, too old and conventional for Irving.

[Schokokeks]

It was called Simon Birch and I have stayed away from it becuase I think it would break my heart to see the story so profaned.

World According to Garp is also an amazing novel. I highly recommend it. And don't forget Hotel New Hampshire, it will have you rooting for incest but that's one of the beauties of Irving, he takes things and situations that would normally repulse you and makes them completely acceptable.

Okay, I think I'll take your advice as to the movie adaptions, I'm not much for screens anyway :)
The World according to Garp will definetely be the next book I'll start, can't wait to read something modern again...
Can anyone comment on The 158-pound Marriage, Setting free the Bears or The Water Method Man so far ?

[Idril]

Can anyone comment on The 158-pound Marriage, Setting free the Bears or The Water Method Man so far ?

I haven't read The Water Method Man but the others I have. I remember nothing about The 158-Pound Marriage so I'm not sure what that means, but at least we know I neither loved nor hated it. :lol: I liked Setting Free the Bears, it doesn't rank as one of my favorite Irving novels but I still enjoyed it. It was a different setting for Irving, not in New England and not in Canada, I think it was in Austria. You've kindled my curiousity now, I think I'm going to have to reread that one.

[Schokokeks]

You've kindled my curiousity now, I think I'm going to have to reread that one.
Great, let me know once you've decided to start, and we could read it together ! Maybe we could even persuade the book club to take it up :brow: ;)

[penelopea]

ditto to the power of ten
Who made that rule ?

[Idril]

Great, let me know once you've decided to start, and we could read it together ! Maybe we could even persuade the book club to take it up :brow: ;)

I'm a little over half-way through a biography on Tolstoy, then I think I'll go with Setting Free the Bears. I've dug it out of my library and it's sitting on my dresser waiting for it's turn. :)

[Schokokeks]

I'm a little over half-way through a biography on Tolstoy, then I think I'll go with Setting Free the Bears. I've dug it out of my library and it's sitting on my dresser waiting for it's turn. :)

Yesterday, I've read the first two chapters of The World according to Garp and I'm loving it so far :nod: I simply adore Irving's style that makes you become so close with the characters and the scenery. Can't wait to see how the story goes on...
Just drop me a line when you're done with Tolstoy, and I'll get a copy of the Bears :nod:

[Idril]

Just drop me a line when you're done with Tolstoy, and I'll get a copy of the Bears :nod:

I will do that. I'm looking forward to reading it again and even more so because I'll have someone to talk to about it. :nod:

[Schokokeks]

Yesterday evening (or rather night :D) I completed The World according to Garp, just couldn't put it down. I loved the characters, especially Helen. However, I liked Owen better, it was more dense, in a way.
I'm definetely looking forward to Setting free the Bears :nod:

[Idril]

Yesterday evening (or rather night :D) I completed The World according to Garp, just couldn't put it down. I loved the characters, especially Helen. However, I liked Owen better, it was more dense, in a way.
I'm definetely looking forward to Setting free the Bears :nod:

Owen is simply Irving's most impressive book, in my own humble opinion. I don't think any of his other characters can hold a candle to Owen but World According to Garp is my second favorite with Hotel New Hamsphire coming in a close third.

Let's plan on starting Bears on Tuesday. I have just over 100 pages left of the biography so I'll finish that either today or tomorrow but I have to make myself read 100 pages of the Gulag Archipelago before I start another book and that will take at least a couple days. I can't read more than 50 pages of that a day or my brain turns to mush. :brickwall

[SleepyWitch]

Okay, I think I'll take your advice as to the movie adaptions, I'm not much for screens anyway :)
The World according to Garp will definetely be the next book I'll start, can't wait to read something modern again...
Can anyone comment on The 158-pound Marriage, Setting free the Bears or The Water Method Man so far ?

hey Schoko.. sorry I'm joining this discussion only now.. Irving is on of my top 5 fave writers, but as with all my faves i've got absolutely no idea why that is, so I didn't know what to say in here..
My faves are Owen, The World According to Garp and the Hotel New Hampshire.
I've read the 158-Marriage and found it OK. It's not overwhelming and just doesn't compare to his longer novels, but the idea is interesting and it's a relatively quick read... well, the description of the characters is convincing, as well, and there are some nasty surprises in store for the main character, so it's not too bad after all.
As for the Bears and the Water Method Man.. I just couldn't get into them. In the Water Method Man he alternates chapters in the frist and third person (about the same guy), if I remember correctly and the protagonist doesn't really come across as either very interesting or likeable.... I might give it another try some day though

have you got started on Until I Find You? I've read a couple of reviews and they were quite divided about it...
I also read it's got lots of actors and tattoo artists in it and that's two groups of people I definietely don't care to read about...
but then, if I'd ever read any reviews/summaries of his other books I'd have probably never touched the books themselves...

-WaffleWitch :)

[Idril]

have you got started on Until I Find You? I've read a couple of reviews and they were quite divided about it...
I also read it's got lots of actors and tattoo artists in it and that's two groups of people I definietely don't care to read about...
but then, if I'd ever read any reviews/summaries of his other books I'd have probably never touched the books themselves...

-WaffleWitch :)

I've read it, just finished it last month. The book is swimming in tattoo artists, or I should say it's swimming in that world. The main character's mother is a tattoo artist and they go on this quest to find his dad and they go from tattoo parlor to tattoo parlor across northern Europe looking for him because he's addicted to tattoos and really the tattoo references never end. The actor bit doesn't seem like it's quite as prevalent, Jack, the main character is an actor so of course you run into a few but it's doesn't seem as big a theme as the tattoo thing. And there's also the porn angle, really this book is filled with so many perverse people and situations. His books always have a little bit of the perverse in them but this one seems to have nothing but perversion. :rolleyes: I don't know if I can really recommend it, I want other people to read it so I can find out what they think of it, if they have the same impression I do about it or if I'm just getting old and prudish but at the same time, I really didn't think it was a particularly good book so I feel some guilt at encouraging people to read it. :lol:

[SleepyWitch]

hehe, thanks Idril..
well, I feel I ought to read it seeing as he's one of my fave writers but on the other hand I don't really want to...
well, I'll put it on my to-read list...

[Schokokeks]

Me too, I read several reviews about Until I find you that were not very clear indeed. And then, it's such a long book that you'd really need the energy to get to it, at least for me :D
I've read the first part of The Bears and I'm liking it so far, though I find it very different to Owen, for example.
Before I'll embark on Until I find you, I'll try The Hotel New Hampshire because he wrote that one between Owen and Garp, and I hope I'll love it just as much as I loved these two :nod:

[bettywalsh]

I've read it, just finished it last month. The book is swimming in tattoo artists, or I should say it's swimming in that world. The main character's mother is a tattoo artist and they go on this quest to find his dad and they go from tattoo parlor to tattoo parlor across northern Europe looking for him because he's addicted to tattoos and really the tattoo references never end. The actor bit doesn't seem like it's quite as prevalent, Jack, the main character is an actor so of course you run into a few but it's doesn't seem as big a theme as the tattoo thing. And there's also the porn angle, really this book is filled with so many perverse people and situations. His books always have a little bit of the perverse in them but this one seems to have nothing but perversion. :rolleyes: I don't know if I can really recommend it, I want other people to read it so I can find out what they think of it, if they have the same impression I do about it or if I'm just getting old and prudish but at the same time, I really didn't think it was a particularly good book so I feel some guilt at encouraging people to read it. :lol:
I too am a huge Irving fan, I've read nearly all of his novels. I found both Until I Find You and The Fourth Hand lacking in what I usually look for in Irving novels. (and I agree with whoever said that Son of the Circus was painfully boring). Though I've certainly aged while following Irving's career I'm not yet ready to admit that I am too old and prudish to appreciate Irving. During the past few years while anxiously awaiting the next Irving novel I've read several other novels that contain odd characters, dysfunctional families, strange adventures/journeys and more than a hint of perversity - books that have taken the weird and strange and made it seem normal & interesting, if not exactly admirable. Middlesex (J. Eugenides) and The Book Thief (M. Zusak) come immediately to mind. I think my disappointment in the last 2 Irving novels that I have read is the novels, not me. I wish that I could better define what it is about Irving's later novels that leaves me disappointed, but the best way that I can describe it is that the main characters just don't engage me the way that Garp & Owen Meany captured my attention.

[Idril]

I think my disappointment in the last 2 Irving novels that I have read is the novels, not me. I wish that I could better define what it is about Irving's later novels that leaves me disappointed, but the best way that I can describe it is that the main characters just don't engage me the way that Garp & Owen Meany captured my attention.

I'm so glad it's not just me. :lol: Jack...and I can't remember the name of the guy from The Fourth Hand, are just odd and not in an enduring way like Owen and Garp. I had absolutely no emotional investment in Jack..or that other guy but I loved Owen and Garp and almost all of the odd ball characters in his earlier novels but these new characters just have no rooting value at all. I really couldn't care less about Jack's emotional journey, all I wanted for him was for someone to tell him the way he likes to watch movies is highly inappropriate and he really needs to stop. :rolleyes: And it bothered me that while they labeled the older school girls' treatment of Jack as abusive, nothing was said of Emma, her early relationship with Jack could easily be classified as abusive and I guess that brings me to another thing that bothers me about Irving's later novels...the relationships in the earlier novels were certainly dysfunctional and unconventional but they weren't abusive, well, there was abuse but not in the relationships that we are supposed to care about. Again, there is no emotional connection to these relationships because they're relationships created out of need and emotional scars, not love and understanding and it's really hard to get excited about those because they are just so sad and pathetic.

[Janine]

I am reading "A Prayer for Owen Meany" and loving it! Truly enjoyable so far. I can't wait to read tonights installation. I try to read a little each night and hope I get it done before discussion begins.

[optimisticnad]

how do you say his surname? Eyer-ving? Irr ving? Silly question i know. i was just curious. I havent read anything about this but what catched my eye was what Idril said 'dysfunctional relationships' that somehow work. isnt that just life? just about every relationship in this world>

[livelaughlove]

I've read The World According to Garp, Ciderhouse Rules, and Until I Find You. I liked the first two, but the latter I thought lacked true substance. I do think he is a great writer, though. I'm definitely going to look into the other books mentioned.

[nps_marina]

I have read Garp and Until I Find You, and thought I loved Garp, I would'nt recommend Until I Find You to anyone, because I found it rather purposeless and... well, as if the man had gone for a sort of weird pleasure ride without a real meaning. Garp is full of terrible moments, where the readewr suffers and all that, and you cry (in the train! in front of people!), and you hate Irving for treating your beloved characters like he does, but Until I Finf You... I tell you, what I found it was purposeless.

Even if well written, and certainly entertaining, because I did finish it, after all. But not good. Actually, if Garp had made me love Irving instantly, and fly to his books in the bookstore; Until I Find You made me dislike him with equal zeal, and abandon my pursuit of his stuff.

But since you all praise Owen Meany so much, I think I will hace to go there, certainly...

[Idril]

His older novels are well worth a read, Marina. Don't let Until I Find You turn you off because it's not typical of his work. As a general rule, anything from Cider House Rules and earlier is a good bet. Anything after is...well...not the author at his best.

[Scheherazade]

The Book Club is reading A Prayer for Owen Meany. You can join us here:

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24399

[nps_marina]

Thanks Scheh
I'll see into that, though I've blasted quite the amount of money in books lately, and though I will certainly eventually buy it, I don't know about buying it now.
Though that's one thing -books- I never stop myself from so, who knows...

But thanks anyway. I'll have to read Owen Meany, certainly.

[EAP]

Mana, keep passin' the open windows.

[Guinivere]

Just recently I reread A prayer for Owen Meany. One of my favourite novels of al time, and definetely my favourite Irving. I think he is the best modern American writer.
I just love his characters and the way he describes New England. For me Owen Meany is one of the most lovingly created characters, everything about him is special. I don't think I have come across someone like him in fiction.
So far I have also read The Cider House Rules which was also brilliant. I just love Dr Larch's take on the world that "we are not here to be happy, we are here to be of use". And The world according to Garp, which of course was also an original.

Has anyone read The Fourth Hand ? I would really like to know if it is as good as the others.

[J.D.]

God, I love Irving!

The Fourth Hand got poor reviews. I personally liked it because the premise was so utterly strange--a hand transplant and the carnival that it precipitates. But it was the kind of story that had to be done in a shorter space, and that's not Irving's strength--it doesn't stand up to Garp or Owen Meany or Cider House or -- a less celebrated, but no less spectacular--Widow For One Year. I happen to like The 158-Pound Marriage myself; I'd read it before I read The Fourth Hand.