Reader Response

Kerianne

The World According to Garp is by far one of the most bizarre, yet interesting, works of literature I have ever read. From it's descriptive opening to its climactic end, "Garp" kept me on my toes and leaving me wanting more after every chapter. At several different points of the story, I found myself as a reader trying to decide whether I should be shocked and disgusted, or if I should just throw my head back and laugh. The book and it's many key events seemed just SO far-fetched that I could actually imagine them happening! Garp's very conception was such a ludicrous and outrageously awkward scene that I actually found myself blushing with embarrassment. Or how about the fact that the "water bottles" Jenny's mother kept sending her were actually… hygienic products; for a lack of better words. What mother would send that sort of private and personal item to her own child? Then there's Roberta, the football player turned transvestite. Sounds absurd? Well, I sort of remember a certain yellow haired basketball player dressing up in a wedding gown once in my life… However, the very idea of these things are so
ridiculous and so appalling that you just can't help but laugh! Conversely, at the climactic scene of the horrific car crash, I felt sincere pain of the characters involved. I was actually concerned for the well being of the boys and Garp (not so much for Helen or her lover) and yet I still noticed myself laughing a bit. (If that makes me a bad person, oh well.)

The sexual tension of the book, both from Garp and his mother and their different views on sexuality take this book to a whole new level. To think Garp, as rather sexual being, came from a woman so prude and disgusted with the act is rather ironic. Due to this fact, I found it humorous that Jenny actually hired a hooker to sleep with her son. Could this be the same woman who stabbed a guy for trying to pick her up at the movies? Apparently, The World According to Garp was one of the most ludicrous books I have read in my entire life. Needless to say, I will always remember it. But not just because it was so obscure but because it was so memorable, so well written, and actually, so good. Though I would never have picked this book on my own to read, I'm so glad I did because I know it's one book that will always stay with me. The World According to Garp is a good read and one amazing book.