Helpful Score: 2
As a John Irving fan I think that The Hotel New Hampshire is one of his best. Though flawed the characters are real and interesting. I hated to finish it.
Helpful Score: 1
Like other Irving books I've read, this one was both funny and sad as well as quirky at times. The story kept me engaged as I wanted to find out what happens next to Franny, John, Frank, Lilly, Egg, etc.
Entertaining. Absolutely wonderful book. Irving draws you into the day to day lives of his characters. One of his best.
First Sentence:
The summer my father bought the bear, none of us was born-we weren't even conceived: not Frank, the oldest; not Franny, the loudest; not me, the next; and not the youngest of us, Lilly and Egg.
The summer my father bought the bear, none of us was born-we weren't even conceived: not Frank, the oldest; not Franny, the loudest; not me, the next; and not the youngest of us, Lilly and Egg.
Truly wonderful fiction from John Irving.
I love John Irving and this is a classic. The novel is much better than the movie. An excellent read.
A family "coming of age" narrative with Irving's usual quirky, loveable characters.
A must read for Irving lovers
Good read about a complicated family.
Very enjoyable first half of book then becomes typical Irving weird with incestuous relationship that develops between the brother and sister.
It really is difficult for me to actually like this book--several reasons, which would spoil the book. I will say that at times it was quite funny, the one redeeming quality.
A funny, sprawling novel that follows an eccentric family raised in hotels with bears. My husband says, "If you're a John Irving fan it is a must read."
About an unusual family...John Irving's style and made me think of Garp for some reason
Absurd and fun.
This is my 2nd favorite John Irving book. First favorite is "A Prayer for Owen Meany"
This is my 2nd favorite John Irving book. First favorite is "A Prayer for Owen Meany"
"The first of my father's illusions was that bears could survive the life lived by human beings, and the second was that human beings could survive a life led in hotels."
So says John Berry, son of a hapless dreamer, brother to a cadre of eccentric siblings, and chronicler of the lives lived, the loves experienced, the deaths met and the myriad strange and wonderful times encountered by the family Berry.
So says John Berry, son of a hapless dreamer, brother to a cadre of eccentric siblings, and chronicler of the lives lived, the loves experienced, the deaths met and the myriad strange and wonderful times encountered by the family Berry.
I love John Irving, but this is not his best work. The dog named Sorrow is memorable for reasons I won't spoil. See also A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY.
This was certainly not my favorite Irving novel and although it was difficult to get through at times I did like it in general. What I love about his books is that they put people in unique situations and challenge them but the characters don't always make the "right" choices. Sometimes the subject matter in this book was tough to read (rape, incest, prostitution) but I thought it was handled realistically and with beautiful language and emotion, as Irving always does. I recommend this book for fans who want to read all of his novels or those who like to read involved stories that deal with difficult subject matter. It is not for the faint at heart.
Six months on the New York Times Best Seller List, featured on the cover of Time, sold over 350,000 copies in hardcover, a must for all John Irving fans.
If you like John Irving, this is a must-read.
I enjoyed John Irving's Cider House Rules so I got a couple of other books by JI.......hate to say it, this one is a very slow read.
Just wonderful from the first sentence on....great story, fabulous writing....
A classic, quirky John Irving novel involving bears and hotels. It's full of endearing, odd characters, and it was a book I was sorry to reach the end of.
Quirky, great read for those not easily offended. An odd family you will come to love.
