Absolutely wonderful as far as meta-fiction goes. Brilliant in the structure and style. I was personally put off by the seemingly overly-sexual interest the father has with his youngest son, and by the rape and adultery scenes. Also, the rapid succession of deaths are a little hard to believe but maybe that's the point? All in all, I would reccomend it to those who like creative story-telling and who may have fantasies of writing their own novel one day.

Deserves a five. Some lovely bits, but overwhelmingly dull/trying so hard to be quirky and touching and blah. I LOVED The Hotel New Hampshire; every John Irving I've read since seems to palely imitate the joy that gave me. However, I really respect the attitude to women expressed in Irving's work, and the exploration of issues of gender and sexuality. It's just a pity that, once again, I didn't really care for the characters, or their 'oddities'.

I had heard a lot about this book, and while it didn't totally live up to expectations, it was interesting and strange and worth reading. It seemed quite graphic to me, but I liked how everything seemed predestined and obvious.
Interesting story.