SOURCE: "In the Family," in The Progressive, Vol. 46, January, 1982, pp. 51-2.

In the following review, Fuoroli offers praise for The Hotel New Hampshire.

Weak writers may repeat themselves in book after book, while great writers, often obsessed, reexamine their subjects persistently; F. Scott Fitzgerald returned to the very rich again and again, and William Faulkner to the psychological blood sports and themes of Mississippi, novel after novel. A world which constantly threatens to inflict violence and sudden death is set against the saving virtues and emotional risks of the family and of art.

After The World According to Garp, John Irving's tragicomic treatment of New England schoolmasters, Viennese prostitutes, and performing bears will prompt nods of recognition rather than gasps of wonder. He has retained and refined his greatest strength—a narrative control so powerful that readers seem to surrender their will. In his new book, he has...