hodkowicz

Horribly flawed, tough to get through, but a very rewarding ending. You can definitely see when John Irving's style comes from although its not perfected yet. He also experiments with different forms, that being his ultimate downfall. The novel loses steam in the middle when he goes back in time in a diary setting. Some of it is insightful, some is just unneccessary to the plot. However, Irving's strengths are still the same. He creates wonderful characters and brings them to life. The other reason I gave this 4 stars despite the difficulty of getting through it is that the book creates wonderful European landscapes and scenes as the animals escape the zoo. Also, it shows a much more youthful and maybe naively optimistic view towards life and watches as that view changes. Less ridiculous fun than other Irving novels, but more emotional.

2023-07-01 11:47