The World According to Garp

"If Garp could have been granted one vast and

naive wish, it would have been that he could make

the world safe.  For children and for grownups.

The world struck Garp as unnecessarily perilous

for both."

This month has been a slow reading time (and a binge-watching Netflix time).  I'm waiting on some books reserved at the library, and so I grabbed an old favorite off the bookshelf.  I first read John Irving in high school; I believe the first of his books that I read was A Prayer for Owen Meany.  That book wrecked me.  It was so beautiful and heart-breaking and, at times, hilariously titillating.  I worked my way through most of his work up through the early 2000's, with Owen Meany remaining my favorite, one that I have read over and over throughout my adult years.  I also enjoyed The Cider House Rules, which was made into a fairly successful film and earned John Irving an Oscar nomination for adapted screenplay.  I did a group project on The Cider House Rules my senior year of high school, and I think it's obvious that its themes of orphans and unwanted pregnancies affected me, as I later became an adoptive mom.  Oh yes, I read them all, from Setting Free the Bears and The Water-Method Man to Son of the Circus and Trying to Save Piggy Sneed. 

But the book that is currently laying next to my bed is John Irving's first huge success, The World According to Garp.  I remember giggling over some of the sexualized passages with a friend in study hall, and as I'm re-reading it, I realize that so much of the material dealt with in the novel went right over my adolescent head.  Also, I forgot how funny the writing is.  There are so many ways the language and word choice serves multiple purposes, so many jokes and turns of phrase throughout Garp that I'm only now appreciating.  According to Wikipedia, this is the work that made Irving "independently wealthy", and it's not hard to see why.  Garp is shocking; it is honest.  The main character is frustratingly arrogant and deeply flawed; he is likewise naive and kind.  The book is filled out by a cast of characters who are completely outlandish and also terribly relatable.  As I lay Garp down and turn off the light each night, I find myself asking HOW?  How did John Irving write this?  What is his secret?  What can I do to capture the world according to Rachel as well?

It's not exactly beach reading, but my current recommendation is to check out John Irving.  Start with The World According to Garp.  If you have time, follow with Owen Meany, Cider House, and A Widow for One Year.  Then gear up for Avenue of Mysteries, Irving's new book to be released fall 2015.  Prepare to laugh, then cry, then laugh a little harder as the tears continue streaming down your face.