A Widow for One Year

Rating:
Summary: The best from the best! 5 Stars +++++
Review: As a devoted reader of anything John Irving creates, I'm always excited to hear he has another book out. His works get better every time, and they are all wonderful. I find myself hesitant to begin them in anticipation of the thrill of being completely taken in once again. "A Widow for One Year" is a deeply involving story, rich with characters who populate your thoughts and dreams. John Irving takes you into his world and you are enthralled. With unmatched sarcasm he can make you laugh. But his real power is to make you cry with the absolutely true agony of real life. When I came to the end of this book I cried because of it's beautiful, moving ending. But more,I cried simply because the book had come to an end. Thank you, John Irving, for every single one of your books.

Rating:
Summary: Is That All There Is?
Review: I liked it, truly. I laughed a good measure of the time, and was moved by the pivotal photographs and the space they once occupied, figuratively and literally. But what does a reader glean from this story and the people in it? That licentiousness and outright abandonment of children and spouse is not only charming, but acceptable? That the seduction of teenagers, while pathetic, is a legitimate basis for relationships? No one evolves, they just plod on in the pursuit of orgasm and good wine. Welcome to John Irving's world, where women are appendages attached to breasts and men are applauded for their Peter Pan tendencies; all life is an exercise in futility. Yikes!

Rating:
Summary: Nah! Forget this one!
Review: Sorry Mr Irving...after 150 pages the hard going got too darn much and I packed it in.....not recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Good Reading with a lull in the middle
Review: I have always loved John Irving's books and couldn't wait to read "A Widow." The book is exceptionally good for most of it's tale. However there is a lull about 3/4 into it...and then it is rushed to a finish. It is a good read...but I felt sort of like an endurance race finishing the book.

Rating:
Summary: A fairly rollocking read though toooo long
Review: Having just finished this book, I was overwhelmed with the feeling that this book was about all writers (ie John Irving) - a bit indulgent. Some of the book left me breathless (early Eddie and Marion) and Irvings writing has the power to transport you into whatever he's writing about. His descriptions though are unweildy and unnessessary and near the end of the book I felt he couldnt wait to be shot of it - I couldn't ,though i did finish it with a satisfied sigh. It was a bit happy-endings but, hey, the characters had a hell of a time so it was kinda nice. Son of the Circus is still his best book - funny, savage,complicated, clever and dark and soo INDIA. Read it.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, but not as good as Son of the Circus
Review: This book kept me entertained, but it lacked the humor and wit of a Son of the Circus. The Ruth character would have worked much better for me had Irving not skipped straight from age 4 to age 36 with only a few references to her formative years, and the constant harping on her breast size was unnecessary. I did enjoy his continued ability to weave a stories within the story, though. I'd call it a decent vacation read.

Rating:
Summary: Unremarkable, but you have to read it from front to back.
Review: This book has been marketed to be par with Irving's World According to Garp book. But the only thing similar would be the human condition of the main character growing from childhood through adult. It lacks a lot of the fine writing in Garp. There were many times I felt like I was just trudging through the book, but you do have to finish the book to the _very last sentence_ before you get a complete sense of the book. It's not one of those books where you encounter a great experience reading the book, but you do have to reach the last page before you reach a point of satisfaction. A lot of the book makes dull reading, but it may be worth a look just to experience this start-to-finish effect which is in itself well-done.

Rating:
Summary: It will be a wonderful movie, and Kevin Kline should be Ted.
Review: This is the first book I've started and finished in my home since my first child was born 3 1/2 years ago--the other three books I've read since then were sneaked in on business trips. I felt sure that John Irving's book would be worth the effort and I was right. The aformentioned three-and-half-year-old looked at me while I was reading "A Widow For One Year" and asked, "Why you laughin', Mom?" This is classic John Irving--laugh out loud funny, brutal on his characters, and full of perversity and humanness. It will be a wonderful movie, and Kevin Kline should be Ted.

Rating:
Summary: Not worth the time.
Review: This was my first Irving novel, and I dove in expecting great things because of all the fame lavished on Garp. How the heck does crap like this get published? I'm an aspiring writer. It is almost simultaneously encouraging and disappointing to know that all one has to do is establish one's name, and then they are afforded a license to write (and PUBLISH!) whatever shallow, twisted, and contrived garbage that pops in their head. I hope that I can say that the characters in "Widow" are unbelievable...but if they are, they are all individuals with whom I wish to have no contact. I know that we live in a "liberated" age when it's taboo to label anything right or wrong due to the suppossed abscence of absolutes...but this novel in its entirety is sick. The consummation of Eddie's reunion with Marion literally made me gasp...and nearly made me vomit. AND TO GLORIFY THE ACT!!! Either Garp was not as good as its acclaim (I haven't read it.) or Mr. Irving's talents have severely waned. If you have $30 of cash just laying around that you were just planning to burn or throw away, then maybe the purchase of this book would constitute a better use of the money--then again, go ahead and burn it. And if you run across a copy of this book, toss it in the fire too.

Rating:
Summary: Longer is not necessarily more endearing.
Review: I have been an Irving fan since Garp and have been increasingly disappointed since Cider House Rules. In particular, Owen Meany SHOUTED throughout the book (whereas Simon Birch never did so), I put the Circus down halfway through it. Despite its length, the 537 pages could not really encompass the entire story which was more unwieldy than phantasmagoric. None of the characters appealed to me; most irritating was the overuse of italics, a gimmick which was reminiscent of Owen Meany's capitalized speech. Bring back the bears.