BiblioBlog

September 30, 2004
The World According to Garp by John Irving

The World According to Garp by John Irving: a novel about the illegitimate son of nurse and feminist, Jenny Fields, and the people that inhabit his world.

T.S. Garp was born to Jenny Fields, an independent minded woman and young nurse during World War II. Jenny becomes a nurse at the Steering School for boys and raises Garp there. After Garp graduates, he and Jenny move to Vienna where she writes the novel that will make her popular as a feminist leader and Garp begins his writing career.

I don’t want to give anything away, so I’m going to keep this review intentionally vague. The book covers Garp’s life as a writer and a father, his marriage, and the lives of his family and friends, including Roberta, a former Eagles tackle who is now a woman after having a sex change operation.

The World According to Garp was both funny and sad, reflective and exciting. I found the writing style to be very inviting and I’m not surprised that this book made Random House’s Modern Library 100 Best Fiction Books of the 20th Century. I highly recommend it.



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