Member Reviews

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  2 of 2 members found this review helpful.

  • Rated 4 stars

  “I first read “Hotel New Hampshire” when it was hot off the presses, and I was hot off my love affair with T. S. Garp. At the time, I thought “Hotel” had reached the summit of fiction, and it was a beloved re-read throughout my college years. It’s everything Irving – wrestling, bears, Vienna, whores, death, rape, incest, loveable characters, children in peril …in fact, it may just out-Irving Irving. It’s been years since I’ve read it, and I suspect I may have outgrown it. If I tried it now, would it be too gooey? Maybe. But I place it here, on my shelf, like a calla lily, in memory of something that has died…Sorrow. He floats.”

  Lord Manleigh wrote this review Wednesday, November 7 2007. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 5 stars

  “One of the best books I've ever read. Certainly the funniest and VERY powerful! Franny, John, Frank, Egg, Lilly, Freud, State of Maine, Susie the Bear, Ernst the Pornographer. This was mind-bending. You just want to stay in this world forever. These characters become your brothers and sisters. Weight-lifting, sex-talk, Earl!, Sex, Rape, Rape Counseling, novel-writing, hotel-running, Bear-handling, saving-the-Vienna-opera-from-being-bombed-by-the-anarchists, whoring, loving, crying, "keep on passing the open window."”

  bookbum wrote this review Thursday, August 7 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 4 stars

  “this is the first book that really got me interested in reading on my own time. I fell in love with this book and john irving and since have continued to read. I owe much to this book.”

  stephen wrote this review Friday, July 18 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 4 stars

  “This is a perfect example of a book that is not GOOD, but is still GREAT. Like Huck Finn. Not that I'm comparing it to Huck Finn. If you told me you were going to write this book, I would tell you not to. But I love it.”

  Elizabeth S wrote this review Wednesday, July 2 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 3 stars

  “Solid, if not Irving's best. A lot of similarity to Garp and some of his later books, but enjoyable.”

  David de Beer wrote this review Sunday, June 22 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 5 stars

  “A book about a dysfunctional family that never ceases to root for one another. Irving loves writing prostitutes into his books and this is no exception”

  Kerilynne C wrote this review Saturday, June 14 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 3 stars

  “This book is strange, yet entertaining. It's full of rape, brothers and sisters lusting after each other, midgets, and preserved dogs. I've read it several times and still can't figure out if I like it. It's like a train-wreck -- you don't want to look, but you have to, and then you keep coming back for more.”

  Julie H wrote this review Wednesday, June 11 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 0 stars

  “Interesting read, but didn't like how it ended. the book sure brought tears to my eyes.”

  zayzee wrote this review Saturday, May 17 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 5 stars

  “My second and all-time favorite Irving and one of my favorite books of all time. What is his obsession with bears, though?”

  Laura T wrote this review Tuesday, April 15 2008. ( reply | permalink )
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  • Rated 4 stars

  “Great read. Saddest story I ever had fun with. It's sad and funny at the same time. I love the euphemisms. Auf Wiedersehen!”

  Rurounald wrote this review Tuesday, February 26 2008. ( reply | permalink )