"A rich, wonderful, and diverse look at the creative mind of one of America's most imaginative and passionate novelists ." -- Denver Post " Supple and energetic as a stylist, Mr. Irving also knows just how to create in the reader's mind a vivid impression of an existing world--and just how to populate it ."-- New York Times Book Review " These pieces are worth saving and savoring. Trying to Save Piggy Sneed is a welcome oasis on the long desert passage leading to John Irving's next novel."-- Seattle Times/Post-Intelligencer "Candid . colorful . Those who have followed John Irving's writing career will delight in his newest, Trying to Save Piggy Sneed .
Readers will leave this book feeling as if they have had a terrific conversation with Irving about why he writes and how he goes about it ."-- USA Today " The essays on himself and other writers make the book valuable, for they tell us a great deal about Irving's view of fiction. "-- Newsday "[This] affable collection of fiction and nonfiction is never less than opinionate d."-- Detroit News/Free Press "Irving proves himself, once again, a garrulous and engaging raconteur ."-- Publishers Weekly "[This] newest book is a first for Irving: a collection of memoirs, short fiction, and essays. Trying to Save Piggy Sneed features tributes to Dickens and Günter Grass, whose novels percolate with a political and moral courage Irving admires. It also includes six short stories, a form Irving doesn't claim as his own. Reminiscences round out the collection, from his caustic recollections of an awkward dinner with former President Reagan to the title piece, in which the death of his town's garbage collector symbolically sparked the teenage Irving's desire to write.
"-- Minneapolis Star Tribune " His homage to Charles Dickens, 'The King of the Novel,' is a love letter to one of my favorite childhood writers. It is also good biography and excellent criticism. His final essay on Günther Grass will make you want to discover that idiosyncratic genius if you haven't already."-- San Diego Union-Triubune " Captivating .In essence, an invaluable handbook of the writer in action. In understanding the truths of John Irving's worlds, we are shown how to understand the truths of ours. "-- Anniston Star "What's best about this memoir is that Irving, fine storyteller that he is, somehow sidesteps the limelight. What this piece is really about is mentorshop and friendship and the feelings Irving carries for those who have helped him make his way.
It is but another display of the wide and generous spirit that powers the best of Irving's fiction ."-- BookPage.