Recommended for you
Main Content
The World According to Garp
The World According to Garp
by John Irving
A special 40th anniversary edition of the bestselling coming-of-age classic novel by John Irving, with a new introduction by the author.
"He is more than popular. He is a Populist, determined to keep alive the Dickensian tradition that revels in colorful set pieces...and teaches moral lessons."—The New York Times
The opening sentence of John Irving's breakout novel, The World According to Garp, signals the start of sexual violence, which becomes increasingly political. "Garp's mother, Jenny Fields, was arrested in Boston in 1942 for wounding a man in a movie theater." Jenny is an unmarried nurse; she becomes a single mom and a feminist leader, beloved but polarizing. Her son, Garp, is less beloved, but no less polarizing.
From the tragicomic tone of its first sentence to its mordantly funny last line—"we are all terminal cases"—The World According to Garp maintains a breakneck pace. The subject of sexual hatred—of intolerance of sexual minorities and differences—runs the gamut of "lunacy and sorrow." Winner of the National Book Award, Garp is a comedy with forebodings of doom. In more than thirty languages, in more than forty countries—with more than ten million copies in print—Garp is the precursor of John Irving's later protest novels.
"He is more than popular. He is a Populist, determined to keep alive the Dickensian tradition that revels in colorful set pieces...and teaches moral lessons."—The New York Times
The opening sentence of John Irving's breakout novel, The World According to Garp, signals the start of sexual violence, which becomes increasingly political. "Garp's mother, Jenny Fields, was arrested in Boston in 1942 for wounding a man in a movie theater." Jenny is an unmarried nurse; she becomes a single mom and a feminist leader, beloved but polarizing. Her son, Garp, is less beloved, but no less polarizing.
From the tragicomic tone of its first sentence to its mordantly funny last line—"we are all terminal cases"—The World According to Garp maintains a breakneck pace. The subject of sexual hatred—of intolerance of sexual minorities and differences—runs the gamut of "lunacy and sorrow." Winner of the National Book Award, Garp is a comedy with forebodings of doom. In more than thirty languages, in more than forty countries—with more than ten million copies in print—Garp is the precursor of John Irving's later protest novels.
A special 40th anniversary edition of the bestselling coming-of-age classic novel by John Irving, with a new introduction by the author.
"He is more than popular. He is a Populist, determined to keep alive the Dickensian tradition that revels in colorful set pieces...and teaches moral lessons."—The New York Times
The opening sentence of John Irving's breakout novel, The World According to Garp, signals the start of sexual violence, which becomes increasingly political. "Garp's mother, Jenny Fields, was arrested in Boston in 1942 for wounding a man in a movie theater." Jenny is an unmarried nurse; she becomes a single mom and a feminist leader, beloved but polarizing. Her son, Garp, is less beloved, but no less polarizing.
From the tragicomic tone of its first sentence to its mordantly funny last line—"we are all terminal cases"—The World According to Garp maintains a breakneck pace. The subject of sexual hatred—of intolerance of sexual minorities and differences—runs the gamut of "lunacy and sorrow." Winner of the National Book Award, Garp is a comedy with forebodings of doom. In more than thirty languages, in more than forty countries—with more than ten million copies in print—Garp is the precursor of John Irving's later protest novels.
"He is more than popular. He is a Populist, determined to keep alive the Dickensian tradition that revels in colorful set pieces...and teaches moral lessons."—The New York Times
The opening sentence of John Irving's breakout novel, The World According to Garp, signals the start of sexual violence, which becomes increasingly political. "Garp's mother, Jenny Fields, was arrested in Boston in 1942 for wounding a man in a movie theater." Jenny is an unmarried nurse; she becomes a single mom and a feminist leader, beloved but polarizing. Her son, Garp, is less beloved, but no less polarizing.
From the tragicomic tone of its first sentence to its mordantly funny last line—"we are all terminal cases"—The World According to Garp maintains a breakneck pace. The subject of sexual hatred—of intolerance of sexual minorities and differences—runs the gamut of "lunacy and sorrow." Winner of the National Book Award, Garp is a comedy with forebodings of doom. In more than thirty languages, in more than forty countries—with more than ten million copies in print—Garp is the precursor of John Irving's later protest novels.
Reviews-
-
T.S. Garp, named for his father's dying gasps, leads an unconventional life whether he wants to or not in this seriocomic bestseller. Michael Prichard ignores the humor and, indeed, all values in the prose except perhaps for the punctuation. He declaims as if narrating a documentary on the Biography channel. However, dull as this sounds, it actually works. After five or ten minutes, one loses the sense of the narrator's presence. Only the words speak. Y.R. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine
-
Revisiting this literary classic is both bittersweet and heartwarming. The new introduction to this 40th anniversary edition, written and read by the author, brings a fresh perspective to the groundbreaking novel. This feminist story of colorful characters is a still a Dickensian depiction of sexual repression, prejudice, and bias. Narrator MacLeod Andrews delivers a mellifluous tone and empathetic representations of Jenny Fields, the enigmatic mother and feminist firebrand; T.S. Garp, her almost immaculately conceived son; and Helen, the daughter of the high school wrestling coach who is Garp's pragmatic and inscrutable wife. Hearing the decades-old voices instills the listener with a sense of nostalgia about the innocence of the times and the hope for a more inclusive future, epitomized by Garp's journey. R.O. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
- Chicago Sun-Times "The most powerful and profound novel about women written by a man in our generation . . . Like all extraordinary books, Garp defies synopsis. . . . A marvelous, important, permanent novel by a serious artist of remarkable powers."
- The New Republic "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."
- Washington Post "A wonderful novel, full of energy and art, at once funny and horrifying and heartbreaking."
