Peter Sagal: Apparently not? — Subium • Bluesky web client

I find it very tacky how into John Irving people used to be.

soft-focus nostalgia about boring people in New Hampshire being incredibly weird and horny was just what American needed then

My wife is a big fan and I made it like 16 pages into THE HOTEL NEW HAMPSHIRE before I threw the book into a pond.

I liked them as a kid, because I was an idiot

We all make terrible literature decisions as kids. I was a big fan of A FAN’S NOTES, for chrissakes

I'm... still a fan? I mean, it's flawed and probably a fluke but it's one of the least self-pitying drunkalogs out there (in that he's self-pitying but constantly mocks himself for being so)

I named my dog after him!

And I love you for it. It’s one of the few books I know that is an unsparing and accurate summation of what it is to be a failure. He is not redeemed by love; he is not a charming drunk, there is no happy ending, other than the book itself.

Garp and Cider House are great books! Still!!!

I agree! We’re talking about Frederick Exley at the moment. I love those 70’s-80’s Irving novels, though. My fave is Owen Meany. However, there’s only so much you can say about prep schools, bears, incest and castration.

is that a challenge

Apparently not?

🫢

I know I read at least two of these (And maybe all of them?), but damned if I can remember a single distinguishing plot element amongst them.

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