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John Irving


Louiseog

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I have been Librarythinging (compulsive I know) and have realised that I have read and loved a lot of John Irving's books, especially A Prayer for Owen Meany

Eleven-year-old Owen Meany, playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire, hits a foul ball and kills his best friend's mother. Owen doesn't believe in accidents; he believes that he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul is both extraordinary and terrifying. At moments a comic, self-deluded victim, but in the end the principal tragic actor in a divine plan, Owen Meany is the most heartbreaking hero John Irving has yet created.

and Cider House Rules,

Set among the apple orchards of rural Maine, it is a perverse world in which Homer Wells' odyssey begins. As the oldest unadopted offspring at St Cloud's orphanage, he learns about the skills which, one way or another, help young and not-so-young women, from Wilbur Larch, the orphanage's founder, a man of rare compassion with an addiction to ether.

Dr Larch loves all his orphans, especially Homer Wells. It is Homer's story we follow, from his early apprenticeship in the orphanage, to his adult life running a cider-making factory and his strange relationship with the wife of his closest friend

has anyone else enjoyed his books?

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I always think I should read Irving, but never know where to start. I think it's because the film adaptations can be a quite hit-and-miss, so I'm never sure what the actual novel might be like. For example, I love the film of The Cider House Rules, but I've seen part of one with Robin Williams in, and that was, erm, interesting... (Is that The World According to Garp?).

 

Is Owen Meany usually consdiered his best? Or can anyone recommend another Irving starting point?

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I've been trying to remember.

 

I know I read The World According to Garp first -- it was unique and a good read.

A Prayer for Owen Meany was such a page-turner (not in the action/thriller sense), I wanted to know what would happen next. Some of the ideas were so odd that I was surprised and enjoyed them.

After that I think I read The Hotel New Hampshire or The Cider House Rules, possibly both. It would have been during "Wrath's Dark Period" and I'd've reveled in the skewering of the world around me.

 

I just think he's a good author that fills his books with surprises. His style feels full of candor and wit and immediately plausible no matter what odd quirks take place.

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I've only read The World According to Garp and really liked it, I always remember bits from it and how many emotions it covered, I laughed, cried and got angry throughout the book. I don't remember any other book cover such a range of emotion.

 

I have A Prayer For Owen Meany, The Cider House Rules and Hotel New Hampshire on my TBR shelf. I think I'll read Owen Meany next as so amny have liked it.

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  • 2 months later...

I think John Irving is my favourite author. I would have Owen Meany at the top, but I love everything he's written.

 

A friend of mine thinks that every novel he writes is a rehash of Garp, and whilst I can see what she means (recurring themes & locations), I don't see a great deal of similarity of plots.

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Garp Spoiler alert.

 

 

 

 

After the car accident & the family are recovering, nothing is said about the youngest son dying in the car accident immediately, it's about 30 pages in, that it suddenly becomes clear. When I read it, I actually said "oh no!" out loud as it became apparent.

 

God, John Irving is good!

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I've read A Prayer for Owen Meany in high school and The Cider House Rules. Of the two, I prefer The Cider House Rules by far. I loved the character of Homer and the little kids in the orphanage. Reading Owen's dialogue, however, grew tiring.

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Yes, it was the capitalization that bothered me. It was effective, but I would actually get headaches from the constant "shouting" and from trying to imagine that voice in my head. :lol:

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Spoilers...

 

 

 

 

 

Garp Spoiler alert.

 

 

After the car accident & the family are recovering, nothing is said about the youngest son dying in the car accident immediately, it's about 30 pages in, that it suddenly becomes clear. When I read it, I actually said "oh no!" out loud as it became apparent.

 

 

Yes, I remember that as well. At first, I didn't realise what had happened, and when it dawned on me, it was very sad indeed.

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I can't think of a bad book by Irving. Until I Find You (mentioned earlier) was slated as being too long and self-indulgent.

 

Interestingly (one of the themes was tatooing) one of the greatest tatooists mentioned was Les Skuse from Bristol - I'm not tatooed or anything, but I went to school with his grandson in Bristol. I wrote to him to tell him, as he now runs the tatoo business founded by his grand father. I assumed it unlikely he would read it or any of his clientelle for that matter :thud: , but I thought he'd like to know.

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