eh. way too much about wrestling, not nearly enough about writing. but i wish i could walk around the corner to watch TV at kurt vonnegut's house. ( )

John Irving's THE IMAGINARY GIRLFRIEND (1996) is called a memoir, but he doesn't give a whole lot away in here about his childhood or personal life. More than anything else, it's about his lifelong passion for wrestling, a sport he was deeply involved with, as a participant, a coach and an official for more than thirty years. Irving grew up in Exeter and attended that prestigious prep school, not because of wealth or scholarship, but because his stepfather was a teacher there. He was, in fact, a rather poor student, and had to stay a fifth year in order to graduate. His academic troubles were due to undiagnosed dyslexia. But he learned to deal with it, and became a voracious, if slow, reader, discovering the pleasures of Melville, Hawthorne, Dickens, Trollope, Dostoevsky, Robertson Davies and more while still at Exeter. But wrestling was his real passion, which continued into his college years at Pitt and New Hampshire. We learn of his year studying abroad on a grant in Vienna, an experience which influenced his first novel, SETTING FREE THE BEARS, and his youthful first marriage, which lasted eighteen years and produced two sons (who both became champion wrestlers). In the mid-sixties Irving attended the Iowa Writers Workshop, where he studied under Nelson Algren and Kurt Vonnegut and was friends with Andre Dubus and James Crumley. He returned there as a teacher several years later. Irving taught Creative Writing at various other colleges for eleven years, among then Brandeis and Mount Holyoke. After the enormous success of his fourth novel, THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP, he was able to turn to writing full-time. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Oddly, the portion of this too-short 'memoir' that I enjoyed most was the "Author's Notes" at the end, where he tells of how, in the course of writing this book, he began calling up old friends he'd not seen or spoken to in years - wrestlers and writers alike - and then his sadness at all the ones who had died. Good book, but I would have preferred more on writing and less on wrestling. I greatly enjoyed all of Irving's books up through SON OF THE CIRCUS, which I found to be a disappointment, so nothing since. This book I've had around for nearly twenty years and this is a re-read. Highly recommended for wrestling fans, and, okay, maybe for John Irving fans too.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER ( )

A short book that looks at the influence of wrestling on the writing and life of John Irving. I wouldn't recommend for anyone that doesn't enjoy wrestling. ( )

A short memoir by the noted author. He speaks of his youth when competition wrestling was an important part of his life. His devotion to wrestling has lasted into his adult years as a coach and mentor to his boys. He says that the discipline required to prepare to wrestle has carry over to the discipline behind good writing -- one-eighth talent and seven-eights hard work. (One thinks that he's modest about his talent as the reason he's such a good writer.) Irving reminisces about the authors that are meaningful to him and teachers that helped him develop (Vonnegut and Algren). He describes his own work as a teacher of young writers at the Iowa Writing Workshop and other academic settings.

The book reminds us of the nature of memory. Honest memory may not be entirely accurate. Events and people are sometimes misremembered and memories sometimes burnished by the molding impact of later events. The importance of memories is the fullness and fidelity to who we are at the present moment and how we have evolved. ( )

It's an easy read. The difference between a well-crafted piece of fiction and somebody just regurgitating their life experiences is obvious. That being said, Irving's wrestling stories are very enjoyable, and being a grappling fan myself I could relate to a lot of the struggles and ups and downs that he went through as a competitor and as a coach.

I think the payoff at the end was quite nice, because I wasn't expecting some big life lesson from his stories, they just seem to roll from one to the next, despite being entertaining.

This is a book that you could easily go through on a lazy Sunday. It tastes great, but you're going to want a full meal later on. ( )