Book #16 of 2005
The attentive among you will recall that red clay kindly sent me a parcel, containing amongst other things a copy of The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving.
It’s a book that lurches from death to death, trailing in its wake such various horrors as rape, incest and bear impersonators. Parts of it are beautiful, and other parts, such as the hostage scene, should not be interrupted by Pete even when he is at his most linux-talking fascinating.
I don’t feel that I’m all John Irvinged-out, yet, which is lucky because I also have The World According to Garp on my to-read pile; but I do recognise a couple of recurring themes, including the dressmaker’s dummy.
A good read, narrowly missing out on a five star rating by going on just a little bit too long after it should have ended.
4/5
March 23, 2005
Just keep passing the open windows
The World According to Garp is, in my opinion, Irving’s finest novel, and I feel you will enjoy it a great deal.
it reminds me of my own parents, my own family, in ways.
my daddy is a dreamer,a fighter pilot, a boxer, fallen from money. and my momma. not just a but the beauty queen. imbued with grace and elegance like some people have a permanent tan. if she ever went out without it, nobody would recognize her. storytellers, both. my daddy could tell one , and you’d sit there listening a week after the food ran out.not just florid. if he was to define excess, he’d about run webster ragged.
so gorgeous and overheated, he’d run the dogs to shade.
funny, cause my momma, from an irish family.
an aquired taste, true. not 2 words when none would do.her
That was the first John Irving I read, and it blew me away. Apparently the bears are a recurring theme, too.