The World According to Garp

John Irving

Rory had also been reading John Irving, this time The World according to Garp, probably John Irving's most well-known book. The book contains excerpts from Garp's own writing - which is not as good as Irving's prose. Rory thought this rather conceited. The characters are good, although Helen is not a rounded character. Irving is Garp, whose outlook on life is rather warped. He seems to say how shitty life is. If you do anything bad, you will get punished. The book is clever but over contrived. Rory enjoyed it and would recommended it but he will not rush to read another. He agreed with Andrew that the book is driven by a sex. He thought the character of Helen is set up by Irving. She would not to behave in the way that she did and this was a rather contrived way of making everyone to blame for the terrible things that happened in the book. It is certainly worth reading. John Irving is a very clever writer.
Rory 5/12/99

By the same author

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