The Hotel New Hampshire (1981) was John Irving's follow-up to The World According to Garp. The novel chronicles the unusual adventures of an eccentric family and is controversial for its exploration of a consensual incestuous relationship between a brother and sister. Jodie Foster and Rob Lowe starred in the 1984 film adaptation directed by Tony Richardson.

Irving's The Cider House Rules (1985) is another tale of a boy's journey into adulthood. The novel is thoughtfully influenced by the works of Charles Dickens, yet it is thoroughly modern and controversial in its examination of twentieth-century society's treatment of women and children. It tells the story of Homer Wells, an orphan who grows up in mid-century New England, mentored (and loved) by the ether-addicted abortionist, Dr. Wilbur Larch. The novel was adapted into an award-winning film in 1999, with Irving winning the Academy Award for the screenplay.

A new generation of readers joined Irving's longtime fans when A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989) was published. It is a profoundly spiritual and moving story of a small boy who hits a foul ball that tragically kills his best friend's mother. It is a grand tale of friendship and destiny.

Wally Lamb's She's Come Undone (1992) is the humorous yet heartbreaking coming-of-age story of Dolores Price. The endearing, troubled, and overweight Dolores nearly succumbs to the guilt and grief of a painful childhood. Lamb has been praised for his realistic portrayal of an abused young woman and her struggle with mental illness.

One of Irving's favorite authors is Gunter Grass, the German novelist who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1999. Grass's most famous work is likely The Tin Drum, which tells the story of a three-year-old boy who refuses to grow up, offering a wise and savagely comic depiction of Nazi Germany.

Like Irving, many novels by Charles Dickens feature children who are orphaned or abandoned by one or both parents. Oliver Twist (1838) is one such novel. A gang of child pick-pockets led by the cunning adult, Fagin, takes in young Oliver, one of Dickens's most famous orphans. David Copperfield (1850) recounts the trials and tribulations of the titular character. The boy, like Garp, is born without a father. However, young David loses his mother shortly after she remarries, leaving him with a cruel step-father. Both of these novels were immensely successful in the nineteenth century and remain popular today due to their intricate plots and unforgettable characters.

In the late 1960s, Irving was mentored at the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop by the renowned American author Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Despite their distinctly different writing styles, they both have an affinity for quirky characters and unusual scenarios. Perhaps Vonnegut's most renowned work is Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), which tells the story of Billy Pilgrim, a soldier abducted by time-traveling aliens during World War II. Some scenes in the novel are inspired by Vonnegut's own experiences as a prisoner in Germany during the firebombing of Dresden in World War II. Through dark humor, Vonnegut critiques the brutality of war in this novel.