New York Times bestseller -- 20th anniversary edition with a new afterword from the author -- "A wonderful novel, full of energy and art, at once funny and horrifying and heartbreaking."- The Washington Post This is the life and times of T. S. Garp, the bastard son of Jenny Fields--a feminist leader ahead of her times. This is the life and death of a famous mother and her almost-famous son; theirs is a world of sexual extremes--even of sexual assassinations. It is a novel rich with "lunacy and sorrow"; yet the dark, violent events of the story do not undermine a comedy both ribald and robust. In more than thirty languages, in more than forty countries-- with more than ten million copies in print--this novel provides almost cheerful, even hilarious evidence of its famous last line: "In the world according to Garp, we are all terminal cases." Praise for The World According to Garp "John Irving, it is abundantly clear, is a true artist." - Los Angeles Times "A brilliant panoply of current attitudes toward sex, marriage and parenthood, the feminist movement and - above all - the concept of delineated sexual roles... Irving's characters will stay alive for years to come." - Chicago Tribune "A social tragi-comedy of such velocity that it reads rather like a domestic sequel to Catch-22." - The Observer (London) "A large talent announces itself on practically every page." - The Book-of-the-Month Club News

Author Biography

John Irving has been nominated for a National Book Award three times-winning once, in 1980, for the novel The World According to Garp. In 1992, Mr. Irving was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2000, he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules-a film with seven Academy Award nominations.