John Irving

cautioner

A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of the most rewarding books I've ever read. It's also the only John Irving book I've read. Is anyone familiar with his other works? Are they all of a similar standard? Recommendations?

tSubh Dearg

I liked Prayer for Owen Meany. The World According to GARP is good too. But, I find that if you read his books to close together you start to notice his common themes - wrestling, Vienna, prostitutes, taxidermy etc etc

I made the mistake of reading The Hotel New Hampshire too soon after TWATG and it was a real pain, as I felt it was a very similar story but not as well written.

DMG 1972

The Cider House Rules is also one of his books you might enjoy, - the Garp book, Owen Meany and the Cider House were the three of his books I enjoyed the most.

I found some of his other books especially A son of the Circus very hard to get into.

bullpost

Its been a while since I've read him, but Garp for me was his best book.

cautioner

I picked up The Cider House Rules today, I must admit the depictions of abortion make me slightly uneasy so far but other than that I'm enjoying it.

Dudess

I've also only read A Prayer for Owen Meaney, which I thought was superb, but A Widow For One Year looks good.

cautioner

Finished Cider House. I'm mildly disappointed in the ending to be honest. I must've been expecting a more dramatic climax because of Owen Meany. Oh well. Still a good book.

Hrududu

I've read Owen Meany, Garp and Cider House Rules. I liked Garp the best, but you will definitely get a bit tired of the same themes if you read them close together. I tried reading A Widow for One Year but gave up. I think I was just Irvinged out, so I must go back to it one day.

The one reason I wouldnt put Meany higher than the others is that I hated Owen. He was one of the most annoying sanctimonious characters I have ever encountered. So the fact that I still love the book despite that says a lot about how good it is.

IvyTheTerrible

I loved TWATG, but also thought Setting Free the Bears was good. But as the other posters say, don't read them too close together...he likes his themes!

ncmc

I think the advice about not reading too many books by the same author close together goes for any author. I always try and seperate my books so I don't over-do it on any one author or genre. For example, if I read a historical biography, i'll follow it with a work of fiction etc.

Anyway, back to John Irving, I love him, love, love love him. My favourite author by a country, or indeed, City mile. The Cider House Rules is my favourite book of all time, i'm sorry you didn't enjoy it. You know, I lent it to my sisters with high recommendations and neither of them liked it. They felt that it was too slow moving and nothing happened. I think that's one of the reasons I liked it, it just had a relaxing kind of tempo to it, put me in mind of an autumn day in an orchard I suppose. I could see how you may have been disappointed if you were expecting a major climax like A Prayer for Owen Meaney.

I really liked APFOM too, but felt it dragged a little in the middle before picking up at the end again. Don't give up on Irving yet, there are plenty more great books to discover. As previously mentioned, The World According to Garp is super and A Widow For One Year is one of his best IMHO. Also excellent are Son of the Circus and The Hotel New Hampshire. I also liked Only You (his most recent one) but I could see it not been for everyone. His poorest works in my opinion are The 125lb Mariage (I could have this name wrong) and The Fourth Hand. Still a bad John Irving still beats pretty much all other books you'll read IMO!

Give yourself a break from him for a while, but please do return to him, you'll not regret it!:D

Earthhorse

Having only read Garp I can't comment much outside it but I have to say it was one of the most emotionally draining books I've ever read in my life. Maybe it was just the time of my life I was reading it at but he introduces us to these quirky, broadly likeable characters and then proceeds to beat the ever-living shit out of them. Seriously, there's a lot of pangs schooled at forepangs here.

ncmc wrote: »

I think the advice about not reading too many books by the same author close together goes for any author.

True, but in the case of someone like Irving, whose themes are so, uhm, unique and sort of stamped on every page, the advice might be more pertinent than usual.

randomguy

I really liked a Widow for One Year, and loved The Cider House Rules when I read it a couple of years ago, so much so that I went back and read Garp again recently, having read it years ago; I wasn't sure then and I am still not sure now if there is more or less to it than meets the eye.

More recently, I started A Prayer for Owen Meaney, but didn't get into it at all. Might be because I am not into religion; not sure really - it was recommended by someone whose taste I'd trust. Maybe I'll give it another go. Do you think it's the kind of book that an atheist can like?

cautioner

It's one of my favourite books, me being atheist/agnostic/something not Christian.

Ormus

Garp, Owen Meany and Cider House are great books. Irving is a brilliant storyteller.

ThirdMan

I read Owen Meany, and I'm on Garp now. An incredible storyteller.

My only gripe with Owen Meany is that all of the title character's dialogue is in capital letters. I understand that his voice is supposed to annoy us, so in that respect it works. But it works too well. There were times where I wanted to see him killed off because of it.

JohnMearsheimer

I read The Cider House Rules a few months ago after having bought the book a few years ago. I too found the book very relaxing to read despite the fact the book deals with some serious issues. It was a bit slow in places but an enjoyable read for the most part.

Mr.Saturn

Until I Find You is a really good one, but with a bit of an uncharacteristic twist. I'd agree with the sentiment that Irving is best read with sizable gaps between, more so than other authors, due to weight and span of his work, coupled with the fact he likes to tip the same themes/tropes on occasion. I've tried marathon sessions with his stuff before, and had to take a break for a while, got a little sloggy.

fjon

A few years ago I would have said Irving was my favourite author. I've read every one of his books now, apart from "In One Person", which I'll probably get around to once it comes out in paperback.

Totally agree that a lot of his books can get quite samey especially if read close together. His last few books really haven't been great - I think the last halfway decent ones he did were Widow for a Year and Son of the Circus.
As for recommendations, the 3 obvious ones are Owen Meany, Cider House Rules, and Garp. After that I'd go for Hotel New Hampshire, Son of the Circus, Widow for one Year.
One book no one has mentioned that I really liked is his first novel "Setting Free the Bears". It has been many years since I read it, but I remember not expecting much as I had already read most of his other books, but was pleasantly surprised.

ncmc

fjon wrote: »

A few years ago I would have said Irving was my favourite author. I've read every one of his books now, apart from "In One Person", which I'll probably get around to once it comes out in paperback.

Totally agree that a lot of his books can get quite samey especially if read close together. His last few books really haven't been great - I think the last halfway decent ones he did were Widow for a Year and Son of the Circus.
As for recommendations, the 3 obvious ones are Owen Meany, Cider House Rules, and Garp. After that I'd go for Hotel New Hampshire, Son of the Circus, Widow for one Year.
One book no one has mentioned that I really liked is his first novel "Setting Free the Bears". It has been many years since I read it, but I remember not expecting much as I had already read most of his other books, but was pleasantly surprised.

I really enjoyed Last Night in Twisted River, his second to last book, thought it was a real return to form for Irving after a couple of poor books. But I have to say In One Person is very poor, I would think it’s his worst book to date. There was very little about it I enjoyed, it’s improbable to the point of absurd, the characters are one dimensional and unlikeable, the dialogue is poor. The stuff he has 14/15 year olds is just ridiculous!

Have to agree with fjon here, John Irving was always my favourite author, but his recent work is just too hit and miss.

For any John Irving fan, I would recommend Jonathon Franzen, The Corrections and Freedom are especially good. Characters with real depth, wonderful dialogue and sparkly black comedy, he’s like Irving at his best.

fjon

ncmc wrote: »

For any John Irving fan, I would recommend Jonathon Franzen, The Corrections and Freedom are especially good. Characters with real depth, wonderful dialogue and sparkly black comedy, he’s like Irving at his best.

Cheers, meant to read the Corrections years ago, but never got around to it. Will give it a go soon!
Shame about "In One Person". I'm sure I'll read it though. At least it's not a long book.
Twisted River was ok I guess, but I definitely wouldn't recommend it to a new reader.

ncmc

fjon wrote: »

Cheers, meant to read the Corrections years ago, but never got around to it. Will give it a go soon!

It's excellent, he has a great ability to write characters that are quite unlikeable but you end up really caring about!