I read this book with high expectations. I have continually heard the name of this book as a classic that should be read. The first few chapters are fairly good, and quite humorous. However, it devolves into glib meaninglessness and preposterousness.

Perhaps this book was groundbreaking for its blatant depiction of sex, feminism and gender, but none of it seemed to say anything of meaning, and thus has not aged well. Besides the "both sides"-ism of most of the messages, none of the characters are particularly interesting. Each has their own flaws that are glossed over instead of explored and exposed (e.g. I found Garp to be a hypocritical ***, but the book doesn't really explore it well enough, imo). Likewise, the books within a book were all said to be very good, but none of them were particularly interesting or good either.

Overall, I would say it's an okay book, but been way too overhyped.