Rating: 
Summary: It will make you laugh out loud.
Review: John Irving makes you review the common in a new light. He is a master of cynicism and wit. My favorite is 'A Prayer for Owen Meany' but 'A Widow for One Year' follows in a close second. One finishes his novels feeling there is a lesson to be learned, wherein his ideologies come subtly through. This is definitely a John Irving novel I'd strongly recommend.
Rating: 
Summary: At least I bought it in a sale
Review: John Irving is a very talented storyteller which is why I bought A Widow for One Year. However, I couldn't even finish (in italics) this book. I became annoyed early on when Irving describes Eddie as carrying "a heavy duffel bag and a lighter, smaller suitcase". Unfortunately he does this about ten (in italics) times in as many pages. After the third time I was mentally screaming "ENOUGH ALREADY. I GET THE PICTURE. 'LUGGAGE' IS OKAY NOW." Irving's constant use of italics is also extremely (in italics) helpful. I couldn't have possibly worked out the nuances of the conversation for myself. NOT. Combined with the thin and dreary plot, this work is not exactly a page turner. More of a page churner.
Rating:
Summary: One of the worst books I have read in a long time.
Review: This book does not measure up to Irving's previous niveau of storytelling, for example The Hotel New Hampshire or The World According to Garp. Too bad. I expect more from a writer of his caliber.
Rating: 
Summary: Irving had written a hit again. Excellent!
Review: Irving is a masterful story teller who writes great stories with well-rounded characters who one can relate to immediately. He has an imaginative mind which is excellently displayed in his novels.
Rating:
Summary: An intricately woven story within a story.
Review: I wasn't able to stop devouring this book. I kept picking it up to find out what happens to each character and see how they interact with one another. I would have liked fewer characters with some more depth to each.
Rating:
Summary: I waited for this?
Review: What a disappointment - I struggled through the first part of the book and then decided that life is too short to have to endure such bad writing from the man who gave us Garp, Owen Meany and The Hotel New Hampshire. Mr Irving, you have failed us - shame on you.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Irving's Best Work
Review: WIDOW is not as compelling reading as was GARP, CIDER HOUSE, or OWEN MEANY. I found it tedious and overly long for the story it offers. The characters were interesting, but disappointingly not fully developed. Curiously, I found myself more interested in reading Ted Cole's children's books than in finishing WIDOW. The scary children's book ideas were intriguing!
Rating:
Summary: Sex and Crime isn't enough for an Irving fan
Review: Being an Owen Meany addict I was very dissappointed about the Widow's blandness. Somewhere in the book it is mentioned that fiction authors shouldn't go autobiographic. I believe that Mr. Irving should stick to his own advise. Keep inventing the unbelievable and unreal - I guarantee I'll stay your fan! Sex and crime doesn't suffice for an Irving fan.
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Summary: Irving has become a truly expert story teller.
Review: Like architects, writers often don't hit their stride until their fifties. Irving has always done a fine job of blending comic highs with tragic lows, but in 'A Widow for One Year,' he does it perfectly. He has gotten to the point where he can fine tune the controls of his story lines like a magician. Irving's moral tales can be heavy handed and a little melodramatic. Sometimes his plot twists get ahead of his characters, and ingenuity out runs imagination. Ruth Cole says at one point that characters dictate plot lines, and although both Irving and his protagonist would dissaprove of this intuitive leap: I would guess that Irving has made quite a science of the mechanics of plot and character. A writer whose tales, like Dickens, are so deliberately instructive must be a scientist as well as an artist. Ruth Cole is writer who does want her readers to think her novels are autobiographical, and it's a lot of fun watching her deal with writing issues that Irving himself must have had to deal with constantly. As a side note: Ted Cole's children's books are so convincing. Wouldn't a John Irving children's book be excellent?
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyed the farce of it all.
Review: The usual blend of John Irving's idiosyncratic characters. A gentle chuckle all the way through. I loved the description and understanding of the Dutch and Amsterdam. As good as Garp in my opinon.
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