This gem, a delightful collection of shorter works, both fiction and nonfiction, written by one of the country's finest--and funniest--writers, includes a living portrait of Irving's grandmother, a new, never-before-published essay, six scintillating short stories--including the O. Henry Award-winning "Interior Space"--and two essays on Irving's favorite 19th-century novelist, Charles Dickens.
Reader from Toronto, CN:
I would love to read Irving's memoirs, but I'm more interested in his family life than all that wrestling business. One can't help imagine that there is a lot of John Irving in T.S. Garp and Johnny Wheelwright and John Berry, but Irving does not reveal this. The short stories and his comments on them are well worth it, though. When he calls one story amateurish to the point of embarrassment, I can't help but think, "I only wish I could write one story as well as Irving's worst." For fans of the Irving mystique, it's a must read. But for others, I'd say go straight to "The Pension Grillparzer".
Reader from Baltimore, MD:
I found this book remaindered, popped it open, and was delighted to find details of wrestling at Exeter. I wrestled there in the early 60's, too. This gave me a chance to see "Johnny" (as I call him) Irving's powers of recollection at play. His memory of the smell of the dirt in the cage floor (while the frozen winter soil outside would yield no smell until spring) when wrestling in "the pit" was a detail for me comparable to Proust's encounter with the smell of Madeleines in "A la Recherche du Temps Perdu". While I don't have the patience for Irving's fiction, I'd like to see some stabs at journalism or nonfiction observation from him. The Piggy Sneed story is a wonderful gem.
CRITIC'S REVIEWS:
Donna Seaman
Booklist
Only a writer with a track record as good as Irving could get this uneven collection of memoirs, short stories, and literary essays published at all, let alone to the tune of a 150,000-copy first printing. There are, however, some high points. In the title tale, Irving explains how his grandmother and Piggy Sneed the garbage man inspired him to become a writer. Devilishly funny and extremely shrewd, Irving tells us that he realized early on that "comedy was just another form of condolence". Another effective memoir, "The Imaginary Girlfriend", is full of poignant and comical incidents from Irving's schools days involving his dyslexia, love for nineteenth-century novels ( a real challenge to read given his ailment), and devotion to wrestling. Yes, anyone who knows anything about Irving knows that next to writing, wrestling is his raison d'etre, and there's load of wrestling lore here, but Irving keeps it lively. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the short fiction in this collection. Irving has written eight novels in 28 years and only 6 short stories he'll admit to. Perhaps he should stick to the novels.
