Seltsame Handlung: Leider kann ich nicht in die allgemeinen Lobbeshymnen auf dieses Buch einstimmen. Es wurde mir empfohlen, nachdem ich bereits zwei andere Irving-Bücher gelesen hatte ("Die wilde Geschichte von Wassertrinker" und "Owen Meany")und diese auch recht gut fand. Zum Hotel New Hampshire habe ich jedoch nie eine gute Beziehung bekommen und ich finde das Buch sehr schwach. Die Handlung ist seltsam, dabei weder lustig noch originell. In keine Person konnte ich mich auch nur annähernd hinein versetzen. Auch fehlt mir der rote Faden, alles verläuft sehr sprunghaft. Als die Handlung dann plötzlich irgendwie in Wien weitergeht und die Geschichte immer phantastischer wurde, habe ich mich nur noch ackselzuckend bis zum Ende durchgequält (weil ich ein Buch aus irgendwelchen Gründen immer zu Ende lesen muß, wenn ich die Hälfte schon geschafft habe). Wer mit John Irving anfängt, sollte ein anderes Buch wählen. Ich empfehle die beiden Bücher, die ich weiter oben erwähne.

I must have read this about 20 years ago or so. I could hardly put it down! But, be warned....it's very intense and I wouldn't recommend anyone reading it when they're in a serious depression. But, I love this kind of stuff. The characters are so real and you really get into their minds. Great book! ( )

I'm a huge fan of John Irving, and this is my favorite of his books.

This review will contain SPOILERS.

The book involves almost all of the usual Irving tropes - wrestling, hotels, New Hampshire, bears, sex and death (if he'd thrown in some dwarves, we would have had a perfect set). There are laugh-out-loud moments and cry-out-loud moments.

This book essentially details the struggles of a family with a lot of children as they face some of the more difficult things you could imagine, including terrorism, gang rape and the death of a parent. The troubles they face are almost outsize, but the snide wit and perseverance the family exhibits in the face of these things is heartwarming and engaging. And beneath the somewhat overblown facade, the novel allows the reader access to the many real struggles of children forced to be the parents in a family while still young and the difficulties of wanting something you just aren't supposed to have. ( )

Most of Irving's early novels tie together bears, hotels, and Vienna. This one does it best. A multi-generational eccentric family follows their father's dream of opening and living in a hotel with often comic, frequently disturbing, and sometimes tragic results. There is a film adaptation of this book too which is pretty good too. This is my favorite of Irving's novels. ( )

There is always something so haunting about John Irving's work in my memory. This was no exception. Possibly my favorite, I've read in countless times and each time I'm effected as deeply as the last, which to me means great work.

Not everyone can connect you on a personal level with a bear, flatulence prone dog, prostitutes, radicals and a very disfunctional family, but he certainly succeeds. ( )

In light of the tragedy which occurred while we were on vacation and out of the news loop, it seems a creepy coincidence that I was reading The Hotel New Hampshire, by John Irving. In this novel, the Berry family adopts the catch phrase, "keep passing the open windows" as a reminder to each other to chin up, stay positive, and keep going. Unfortunately, one of these family members, the writer Lily, will succumb to an open window. (David Foster Wallace would have stated that she defenestrated herself, and he certainly taught us the word anhedonia, or the inability to experience joy.)

As I would say of all of Irving's books, this one is brilliant, surreal, complicated, and sometimes hilariously funny. It's quite something, how Irving can do that, can make the reader go along with such bizarre story lines, all the while staying glued to the pages. This is a fairy tale about an unusual couple who have five children who possess five very different, eccentric personalities. The father is the dreamer who makes weird choices for his family, and as a result, the children are subjected to weird circumstances and strange people, in addition to the personal tragedies and challenges each must cope with.

Though I was fascinated with this novel, it is not my favorite of Irving's, so far. There are several I haven't read yet, but I must say that my favorite so far is still A Widow for One Year, followed closely by The Cider House Rules. However, I am very interested in renting The Hotel New Hampshire (1984) which is said to be very faithful to the book, and strangely, the lovely Nastassja Kinski portrayed Suzie the Bear, a plain girl with so many issues that she spends most of her time in--a bear costume.

dysfunctional family, New England, rape, sexuality, 20th century fiction, humor, incest,

Enorme déception, surtout au vu de mon admiration pour Une veuve de papier. Je n'ai vraiment pas accroché aux personnages et aux situations, tout est trop *hénaurme*, et ça n'a pas pris. Je n'abandonne pas Irving pour autant, mais j'ai un peu perdu de mon enthousiasme sur ce coup... ( )

The first "grown-up" book I ever read. I love the zany characters and Irving's typical too far-fetched to believe plot lines. Yet despite all the over-the-top antics of the characters and their ridicolous quirks, I can't help but feel for them and find myself caught up in the same insanity that defines their world. ( )

Like other Irving books I've read, this one was both funny and sad as well as quirky at times. The story kept me engaged as I wanted to find out what happens next to Franny, John, Frank, Lilly, Egg, etc. ( )

http://blog.libdrone.org/2007/10/pray... ( )

It made me laugh out loud; it made me want to cry. ( )

My first Irving and I mostly loved it, though there was an off-putting bit or two. ( )

My least favorite Iriving book. Probably turned off by the incest. ( )

My favorite all time Irving book. ( )

one of irving'b est, this has egg, lilly, frank, franny, and susie the bear cavorting in their youth throughout the streets of vienna (the second hotel new hampshire), among the whores and revolutionaries of that time. And then, there is always sorrow. ( )

A flawed but fascinating work by John Irving, about a truly eccentric family who live their lives in the hotels that the father buys and renovates. There is a trained bear, a gay son, another who is in love with his sister Franny, a stuffed family dog, a young tragic figure of a boy child and another small tragic figure of a daughter, and their loving and sadly surreal parents, and a twisted roller coaster of a story that leads them through one tragedy after another, and to a final resolution that allows their inner strengths to lift them up. Good and fascinatingly offbeat, but one gets the idea that Irving set out to throw in all the existential craziness he could think of. The two separate deaths of family members are especially poignant. ( )

Classic Irving. If you are a John Irving fan, this is a must read. ( )

I like John Irving. His writing is entertaining, even if the plot is slow. This is not a book you try to finish fast. You just enjoy the reading. The book is about a father who starts a hotel again and again, and fails. Despite failures, he and his kids become heroes, and rich. In the end, he succeeds in having a hotel of his own where he's happy, and contributing to society - beit not in the way he thinks. ( )

Irving is one of my favorite authors, and this is one of his best. I haven't seen the movie, but I'm sure the book is much, much better. How could you not love a book in which the family has a pet bear? ( )

What is it with Irving a dress dummies? Prominent in both this book and A Prayer for Owen Meany. Very strange. ( )

talk about taboos! this is such a great story! i loved the ending! ( )

I like to read this book at least once a year. It's especially nice to read in the second week in September when the air starts to change, but this year I just couldn't wait. In The Hotel New Hampshire, you meet one of the most interesting families in any novel I've ever read. There's Franny, of course, to whom everything is sexual innuendo; Lily, who just doesn't seem to be growing, John, who is madly in love with Franny, and Sorrow, the dog, who has terminal flatulence. There's also Frank, Freud, Egg, and State O' Maine, the bear. Just like in all of Irving's novels, the characters are richly developed and one is sure to identify with an aspect of each of them. This is my second favorite Irving novel (for who can deny that A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of the best books ever) and I highly, highly, highly recommend it.

Not my favorite John Irving, but still an entertaining read. As often happens in John Irving books the book takes place in both New Hampshire and Europe.

The reoccuring theme of the bear is definately interesting. ( )

I read John Irving eagerly through this book, and this is the one that broke me of my fixation, The chapter "Dealing With Chipper Dove" was the breaking point. Chipper Dove was supremely and appropriately weasel-ly, and to have his come-uppance served in such a burlesque cutesy way did not work for me. I mean to get back to Irving - God knows he's written tons since this book - anyone have a favorite they'd suggest? ( )