Rating: 
Summary: This is John Irving's best work
Review: A Widow For One Year is the finest book I've read in years! The characters are unforgettable. John Irving seems to have gained in confidence and does more with everyday events and relationships - relying less on bizarre plot twists (as has been his trademark) I love the incredibly flawed but vital characters he has created. This story is wonderfully life affirming and inspiring.
Rating:
Summary: I wasn't "moved" to finish it
Review: This is one of those books that I just couldn't accept as entertainment. The incestuous overtones and understones were so pervasive, and constant, that I began to feel as if I was reading someone's psychotherapy journaling. Too much emphsis on free nudity and weird father- daughter and mother-son "issues". I began to say to myself, "please". I couldn't accept that Ruth endured all this horible trauma and still somehow remained lucid and sane. I quit when "best friend" Hannah and dad were caught romping about. Too much for one character to live through.
Rating: 
Summary: Snore City
Review: I guess Irving is trying to be Wally Lamb - trying to make it to Oprah. Whatever the case, this is a weak and silly book. The characters are all reroutes of those created by better authors, and the plot is senseless.
Rating:
Summary: Fastest Irving read yet
Review: I have read all of Irving's book with the exception of "A Son of the Circus" (which I just couldn't get through) and "Widow" is by far the most enjoyable book of the collection. I found it a very light read...perfect for a summer day by the pool. The characters were funny, yet real and oh so typically John Irving fallible. After "Circus" I thought I was through with Irving's books, but he brought me back with "Widow."
Rating: 
Summary: An Irving novel misfire is like a Kubrick film misfire...
Review: A John Irving novel that misfires is like a Stanley Kubrick film that misfires; it still has the right stuff to engage us long after we've turned out the bedside light or the movie house has grown dark. Where "Widow..." is off center in its Dickensian targeting is substance. We come away from this novel as from a great meal during which we were surprised to be only stylishly served dessert; a fine dessert - visually interesting, well-crafted, PLENTIFUL, filling but not satiating. I found myself asking, "Please, sir, may I have MORE."
Rating: 
Summary: Dysfunctional fun!
Review: I greatly looked forward to reading John Irving's latest novel and the wait was not disappointing. After getting through 500 + pages of stories within stories, I can't remember being so distraught reading a last sentence of a long book. The fact that the last sentence could bring me to tears so easily goes to show what a remarkable writer John Iriving is.
Rating:
Summary: excellent concept- but "average" execution
Review: The core of this novel, to me, is about how truly deep relationships cannot be diminished by time and distance. Through the characters in the story we see how obsessions can be "magnificent" or tragic. That's the good news. The bad news, unfortunately, is that the author's writing was very tedious in several parts of the novel: he kept repeating the same thoughts --with no deeper insights -- page after page. The only thing that kept me reading was the compelling nature of the novel's theme. I waded thru the tedious parts just to see how it would all end. I must admit though; when I did get to the end, I had tears in my eyes!
Rating: 
Summary: For Irving fans only. Others won't get it.
Review: Not a classic like Owen and Garp, not a total waste of time like Circus, this novel will be lost on those not already familiar with Irving (unless they like the word breasts). I think his next work needs a character or two that the reader can really care about.
Rating:
Summary: RUN AWAY!!!!
Review: This book is comparable to a bad follow-up album by a musician who had previously recorded a gem - only worse. I was actually embarrassed reading this tome. At first I was excited that here was another major work of fiction from the man who created 'Garp' and 'The Hotel New Hampshire' and then I began reading. Maybe I am older now and the style doesn't work for me anymore but somehow I doubt it. Irving is just slumming here ad nauseam. His description of Marion as a beautiful woman is truly ridiculous and juvenile. His obsession with breasts is not worthy of a real writer. Finally, his blatant clues to every major (& I use that word loosely) event that occurs are truly annoying. If I had a dime for every time I rolled my eyes, I would have had all money back and then some. These characters don't think like real people. Eddie's obsession is not even sad - it's just unbelievable. We are to not only believe that he still loves this woman but that no other major event or love affair has happened in his life to dilute the memory of this brief fling. Please. Another example is Hannah whose 'betrayal' of Ruth is given away 10 pages before its revelation. Irving is Eddie - writing obsessively and oh so badly about something no one reading could really care about. His macho posturing is tiresome even when he attempts to explain his female characters' motivations. My reaction might have been gentler had the work not been so voluminous. Does Irving's reputation preclude the need for an editor? Advice to anyone tempted: DON'T DO IT!!!!! This is nothing but a bound script for a bad TV movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Hard to believe
Review: After learning to know Ted quite well, I found it hard to understand his taking of his life because Ruth caught him with her best friend. Did I miss something?
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