To prepare myself for this novel, I drank strictly water throughout the entirety of reading it. I came up one day short. There was a famous study done at Standford University where children were given a marshmallow and if they waited 15 minutes they were promised a second one. The ones who were able to wait were apparently much more successful in life. (And so, it appears that even as a grown man my frontal lobe is underdeveloped.) That is what this book is about. Fred “Bogus” Trumper is an immature man unable to wait for the next best thing and the hijinx that he encounters throughout this novel is exquisitely embarrassing and cringe-worthy. Bogus reminds me of my favorite character of all time, Ignatius C. Reilly. Alike his first novel, the story is hectic, but now a good-fun-hectic that is easily followed and resembles some meaning. There is little waste on the 275 pages. The novel is an unchronological tale going between Vienna, New York, and Iowa. I would understand a premature-reader becoming confused by the order of events but Irving is able to tie them all together in a way that is very satisfying. At the end of every chapter, I was excited to get back to the growing tension in the other storylines of the book. I related, and even understand the complex love the characters have for each other in this very messy thing we call life. Sentences are sometimes frivolous and complicated that can disengage the reader, but at least I know the author had fun writing it. A self-aware writer stretching his capacity with language is much better than a dull story – which this plot could have ever easily been. It is a book best explained by just reading it but a simple explanation is “the pathos of a redeemable tragic hero getting everybody pregnant, who has money problems and is trying to earn his Ph.D.” The title, The Water Method Man refers to a urinary tract infection that curses Bogus but it really is not the main focal point of the novel. I would be interested to know if John Irving started with the UTI or added it in as a fitting backdrop on the farcical love triangles. It is not just a frivolous tale with no point. Throughout the blatant humor in this satirical novel, there are lessons that I am walking away with – a new fresh lense on life and mature topics I may have not understood, or at least would have become embarrassed about prior to reading it. There are scenes and lines that are indeed rememberable for an otherwise forgettable book. I was borderline embarrassed reading his first novel and confused that he blossomed into the prolific writer he has become but this second novel was entirely redeeming. I could not write this novel where I am at in my writing process. I might! if I am lucky, but it would include luck. John Irving is able to make the extraordinary believable and the believable extraordinary. It was refreshing great nihilism with a happy ending.
80/100
Ben Bonkoske 