The World According to Garp

Recommended by Riz Khan, and 1 others. See all reviews

Ranked #58 in Adultery, Ranked #63 in Wrestlingsee more rankings.

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...
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Riz Khan This was given to me by a schoolfriend who told me that the character, Garp, really reminded her of me. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of that once I’d read it, but I could relate to this guy. I’d like to think I have an easy-going outlook on life – you don’t have to agree – and I was brought up by a single mum and I think John Irving is very much on the side of women. He takes a strong look at feminism in this book and its pros and cons, at how when it gets to extreme levels of hating men it creates its own problems, but he looks also at how women become victims. He marries his childhood... (Source)


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