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JaBlue
12-09-2005, 07:27 AM
I just finished this book tonight.

Holy [censored].

Have any of you read it? What'd you think?
Alobar
12-09-2005, 07:31 AM
never even heard of it...is it new? who writes it?
JaBlue
12-09-2005, 07:44 AM
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never even heard of it...is it new? who writes it?

[/ QUOTE ]

by John Irving, it is 15 yrs old and says "#1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER" on it
stabn
12-09-2005, 07:55 AM
[ QUOTE ]
I just finished this book tonight.

Holy [censored].

Have any of you read it? What'd you think?

[/ QUOTE ]

I read it in high school and thought it was a great book.
Il_Mostro
12-09-2005, 08:15 AM
[ QUOTE ]
I just finished this book tonight.

Holy [censored].

Have any of you read it? What'd you think?

[/ QUOTE ]
Havn't read that one, it's on my shelf but I havn't gotten around to it yet.
I have, however, read a few other Irving books and heartily recomend them. The Cider house rules is an amazing book, one of my all time favourites. Hotel New Hampshire is also great, but in other ways the The cider, it's basically slapstick in book-form, done very very well.
diebitter
12-09-2005, 08:19 AM
Haven't read this, but I've read 'the world according to Garp' and liked that a lot. Very nice style of writing. I'd recommend Garp to anyone, and I guess this is probably on a par?
private joker
12-09-2005, 08:28 AM
I LIKED THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP BUT A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY STARTS TO GET WAY TOO RELIGIOUS AND IRVING IS BECOMING TOO MUCH OF A BORN AGAIN IN MY OPINION. ALSO, THEY MADE A MOVIE OF IT CALLED THE MIGHTY WITH SHARON STONE AND APPARENTLY IT SUCKS.
ChipWrecked
12-09-2005, 09:17 AM
[ QUOTE ]
I'd recommend Garp to anyone

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Great effort making that into a movie.

You're a film guy, could you imagine being tasked with "Film 'Garp'"?
diebitter
12-09-2005, 09:19 AM
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'd recommend Garp to anyone

[/ QUOTE ]

Great effort making that into a movie.

You're a film guy, could you imagine being tasked with "Film 'Garp'"?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, he did a good job. John Lithgow was pretty good as the transexual football player (I'm not kidding!) In fact, I liked the film so much, it led me to read the book.
12-09-2005, 09:19 AM
Yea I read it and remember liking it...
samjjones
12-09-2005, 10:27 AM
The book >>> Simon Birch the movie
buffett
12-09-2005, 10:48 AM
It's my favorite piece of fiction. I like it even better than Dickens, which I love.

Fwiw, I didn't like the movie (Simon Birch), I really don't care for Irving's liberal/NARAL politics, and I haven't particularly loved his other stuff I've read (Garp, Hotel NH, Cider House, etc.).
odellthurman
12-09-2005, 10:52 AM
It is one of my all-time favorite books. John Irving is a genius.
BoogerFace
12-09-2005, 10:52 AM
[ QUOTE ]
I LIKED THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP BUT A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY STARTS TO GET WAY TOO RELIGIOUS AND IRVING IS BECOMING TOO MUCH OF A BORN AGAIN IN MY OPINION. ALSO, THEY MADE A MOVIE OF IT CALLED THE MIGHTY WITH SHARON STONE AND APPARENTLY IT SUCKS.

[/ QUOTE ]

I GOT TIRED OF THE BOOK AFTER ABOUT 100 PAGES. I REALLY LIKED THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP BUT THOUGHT OWEN MEANY WAS CRAP. THANKS FOR THE TIP ON THE MOVIE.
B Dids
12-09-2005, 11:35 AM
As somebody has mentioned, the movie based on Owen Meany is "Simon Birch"

I loved this book. A little heavy handed at times, but still excellent.
man
12-09-2005, 12:01 PM
I read this book when I was like 16 I think, because my parents made me read it and write a report on it (I sucked at school). I liked it very much but I think it went over my head.
BreakfastBurrito
12-09-2005, 01:14 PM
Most people who've read this book seem to absolutely love it. It did nothing for me personally though. I read 250 pages of it and then just gave up. I've never gotten that far in a book before giving up before, and never once had the urge to pick it back up.
TiK
12-09-2005, 01:21 PM
[ QUOTE ]
I LIKED THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP BUT A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY STARTS TO GET WAY TOO RELIGIOUS AND IRVING IS BECOMING TOO MUCH OF A BORN AGAIN IN MY OPINION. ALSO, THEY MADE A MOVIE OF IT CALLED THE MIGHTY WITH SHARON STONE AND APPARENTLY IT SUCKS.

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL!

It is a pretty damn religious, but it's more about faith, than religion, if that makes any sense at all. Anyway, I don't know about Irving's religious status, but his last two novels didn't seem to be very religious at all, though the protagonist went to a religious school in his last novel "Until I Find You," his last novel before that "A Son of the Circus," was set in India and was about a Bollywood actor (I recommend it), and as I recall didn't have any religious overtones, born-again, or not. The religious overtones, I only found in "A Prayer for Owen Meany", which I loved, by the way.
edtost
12-09-2005, 01:47 PM
It blows. Him trying to be all symbolic and beating you over the head explaining it over and over pissed me off to no end.
astroglide
12-09-2005, 05:54 PM
this is an example of a post that really should have links. this is a terrible thread for people who have no idea what this is.