I loved the book and want to see the movie and read more by Irving.
This is one of my ancient paperbacks and there was no note on the flyleaf if and when I had read it.
I picked it up on the shelf when I read a review that said Elizabeth Berg was a similar writer. Somewhat true, yet her writing doesn't quite reach the sublime level of Irving.
I watched a YouTube video where Irving was interviewed on the 40th anniversary of the book's publication. Also, I saw a sixty minute documentary on Amazon Prime where Irving talks about his approach to the writing craft.
It's a kind of satire of a war between the sexes or, more accurately, 'the polarization of the sexes'. Jenny Garp is killed by a man and Garp is killed by a woman. I saw an interview with Irving on the 40th anniversary of the release of 'THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP' and he was surprised had how little progress has been made in forty years.
The definition of a 'picaresque novel'. This class of novel depicts the adventures of a roguish, but appealing hero.
The book is jam-packed with interesting and crazy characters.
John Irving studied under Kurt Vonnegut at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.
Jenny (Fields) Garp's novel is called 'A SEXUAL SUSPECT'. She is 'suspect' because she shuns the traditional role of a woman. She 'uses' a wounded soldier to impregnate herself with Garp. She doesn't feel the need of a husband.
Garp's name is 'T.S. Garp'. The two initials stand for 'Technical Sargent'. That was his soldier's rank in the service.
Roberta (Robert) Muldoon is a central character. 'Old 90 from the Philadelphia Eagles'. This character is Irving's favorite and was intended to be the 'most grounded'. He is also Garp's closest friend.
After Garp dies the book goes on for twenty pages. No matter who dies, life goes on...largely unaffected.
The book is also about a father's fears. How can he keep all of his friends and family away from 'The Under Toad'?
Ellen Jamesians, a group of women named after an eleven-year-old girl whose tongue was cut off by her rapists to silence her. The rapist apparently 'forgot' that Ellen could still write to describe her attackers. The members of the group cut off their own tongues in solidarity with the girl (the girl herself opposes this tongue cutting).
Garp vehemently disagrees with this group for disfiguring themselves. Because of this he is vilified as an anti-feminist and a hater of women.
Many attributes of Garp are shared by the author. Irving really was an English teacher and a wrestling coach with young children when he wrote the book. Also, just as Garp had a couple of unpopular novels before his 'break through', so did John Irving.
The book's page at Wikipedia:
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