SOURCE: Grumbach, Doris. “1978's Most Original Novel.” Saturday Review 5, no. 16 (13 May 1978): 42.

In the following review, Grumbach argues that Irving subtly and persuasively treats themes concerning the absurdity of modern life in The World according to Garp, describing it as an “imaginative feast.”

Before I attempt the almost impossible task of describing a complex and fascinating new novel, I want to place The World According to Garp, by John Irving, alongside Going after Cacciato, by Tim O'Brien. They are 1978's most original—and therefore best—novels thus far.

Garp itself is a paradox: both slick and subtle, trifling and profound. (My theory is that the novel was written backward from the final sentence, which is: “But in the world according to Garp, we are all terminal cases.”) It is a rich and blackly humorous miscellany, one that I predict will sell well because it reads quickly and easily and...