Book of the Week: The World According to Garp

Now that I’m back in the US, I’m reinstating BotW as a distraction from the slow-going MCATs preparation. I guess I’m cheating a little, because I read this book (expecting, at first, to hate it as much as I hated The Cider House Rules) during my last few days in London. With just a few pages read, I realized my mistake - this is actually kind of the best book ever. I even got a compliment for my book choice from a real live Londoner on the tube. I gobbled this book up; I read on the tube, in front of Salisbury Cathedral, in Hyde Park. I couldn’t put it down. 

Irving has created one of those rare narratives where the characters are rather unlikeable, but their stories and actions and dramas are so captivating that it doesn’t really matter. I respected and admired Jenny Fields (probably the truest feminist character I’ve encountered so far), but I didn’t want to be friends with her. I was interested in Garp, but I couldn’t stand him. I appreciated Helen, but I certainly wouldn’t have wanted her to be my mother. I guess what I really got out of Garp is that the crazy mixture of family/personal/educational/work life is complicated. Doing what feels necessary/exciting/stimulating often wins out over doing what’s right, even when you’re married with kids. One hell of a book.

“I love you so much, and I know you so well,” Helen began.