im doing a research report on one of john irving books. im trying to decide which book i should do it on, the world according to garp or the cider house rules. not only do i want an interesting book but i need a bunch of available secondary sources. advice/suggestions?
2007-01-19 12:01:11 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
i already read a prayer for owen meaney - thats why im not doing it
2007-01-19 14:29:36 · update #1
Cider House Rules would be easier to find secondary topics to research such as migrant farm workers and apple orchids and the like.
Edit: I forgot about the abortion issue in Cider Houes Rules. It has been a while since I've read it and I have not seen the movie. Abortion can be a good topic to do research as long as you stay unbiased in your research and presentation and try not to write anything inflammatory (hard to do I know).
2007-01-19 12:08:06 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
A Prayer for Owen Meany I thought was excellent, if you're allowed to chose any other Irving title that is. Cider House Rules was ok, never read The World According to Garp though.
2007-01-19 13:24:07 · answer #2 · answered by Caitlin G 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I read The World According to Garp a long time ago. I would suggest that one because it is VERY interesting. Such a bizarre but vivid book. One of those books where the plot stays with you forever, the character is so human, not admirable or disgusting, just human. Flawed and strange and regular. It is a quick read for its length. Since it is such a classic, I imagine there would be lots of secondary sources on the web, articles in databases, etc.
However, if you are a prudish person, I would choose The Cider House Rules, although that one deals with abortion. Garp has lots of sexuality in it; including a story within a story involving rape, part of one male character's anatomy is bitten off in an accident, and there is also prostitution and extramarital affairs. Pick your poison. If you choose Cider House, you could examine its true stance on abortion (I think pro-life), if you could find enough research to back it up.
2007-01-19 12:11:52 · answer #3 · answered by teddy 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you do cider house rules, you have to contend with the whole abortion issue...can be a sensitive issue for some. Garp is a better book. Did you read A Prayer for Owen Meaney or A Widow For a Year? Both are great!!!
2007-01-19 12:07:25 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've read the World according to Garp, that book is really funny; but cider house rules is also a well known book that was turned into a movie, which I hear is wonderful.
2007-01-19 12:09:20 · answer #5 · answered by amazon 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
HOTEL NEW HAMPSHIRE by John Irving was always MY favorite Irving novel.
Funny, sad, outrageous, and moving.
Each Irving book contains main themes; the big ones here are rape, incest, and the family unit.
Of course, these is a rape. This wouldn't be a John Irving novel without a rape or a bear or Vienna or body-building or social privilege. There are, in fact, two rapes and two bears, as there are two Freuds and two blind men and two faces to the stuffed old family pet, Sorrow.
This is the one I would have used.
A hellava lot more interesting.
2007-01-19 13:40:22 · answer #6 · answered by Muinghan Life During Wartime 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are really spoilt for choice with John Irving's novels. If you have to choose between the two you mention, I'd advise you to go for Cider House Rules.
2007-01-19 14:33:59 · answer #7 · answered by Sterz 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Whatever you do, stay away from A Son of the Circus. It's awful. Thinking it would surely get better, I read about 100 pages or so. That's 25 pages longer than I usually go. It never got better.
2016-05-23 23:02:43 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you have the choice, do 'A Prayer for Owen Meany'. It's my second favourite book, period.
2007-01-19 12:32:07 · answer #9 · answered by balderarrow 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋