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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
I absolutely loved this book. A friend of mine recommended it. John Irving is a great storyteller. There are so many great stories that unfold in this book. I loved the flawed characters and their different searches for truth. This book channeled Dickens at his best.
I finished this book this evening, and have mixed feelings about it.
The book chronicles the life of Ruth Cole, the daughter of Ted and Marion Cole. The first part of the novel covers the summer when Ruth is 4 years old. Her parents are going through a separation after the devastating death of her two older brothers 5 years previously. The house Ruth shares with her parents (who only stay with her on alternate evenings) is shrouded in the memory of her dead brothers. Ted Cole is a writer who hires a 16 year old boy, Eddie O'Hare, as a writer's assistant for the summer, knowing the boy will fall in love with Marion and start an affair.
The second part of the book is set in 1990, 32 years after part one. Ruth is now a successful writer, as are Eddie and Ruth's best friend, Hannah (who are a novelist and journalist respectively). Eddie is still in love with Marion Cole although she is long gone, and, 32 years on, is approaching pensionable age. This part sees Ruth struggling with the decision whether or not to marry her editor, and developing her ideas for her latest novel in Amsterdam.
The third and final part of the book is set another 5 years in the future. Ruth is now 41, a mother of one and a widow. This part sees the loose ends tied up and a conclusion brought to the story.
Previously I had only read Irving's "The Cider House Rules" which I adored. This book is totally different. The characters are all literary figures which to me made it seem a bit like the author had had one good idea and then run out. The first part of the novel is far and away the best, and you get the feeling the novel runs out of steam a little after this. Sections of the second part of the novel drag aimlessly for page after page; and in the end the novel, at 537 pages long, just seems to drag. The characters are, in the most part, well formed, and the underlying story is a good basis for a novel; however, you get the feeling that a ruthless editor, cutting 100 or so pages from this would have made a "good" novel "great". In addition, rarely have I come across a book that uses so many instances of parentheses - a writing style which eventually becomes distracting and gives the novel a hint of being "unfinished" and littered with the author's after-thoughts.
However, overall I enjoyed reading this book, and once I got into the characters sped through the text in a couple of days.
The book chronicles the life of Ruth Cole, the daughter of Ted and Marion Cole. The first part of the novel covers the summer when Ruth is 4 years old. Her parents are going through a separation after the devastating death of her two older brothers 5 years previously. The house Ruth shares with her parents (who only stay with her on alternate evenings) is shrouded in the memory of her dead brothers. Ted Cole is a writer who hires a 16 year old boy, Eddie O'Hare, as a writer's assistant for the summer, knowing the boy will fall in love with Marion and start an affair.
The second part of the book is set in 1990, 32 years after part one. Ruth is now a successful writer, as are Eddie and Ruth's best friend, Hannah (who are a novelist and journalist respectively). Eddie is still in love with Marion Cole although she is long gone, and, 32 years on, is approaching pensionable age. This part sees Ruth struggling with the decision whether or not to marry her editor, and developing her ideas for her latest novel in Amsterdam.
The third and final part of the book is set another 5 years in the future. Ruth is now 41, a mother of one and a widow. This part sees the loose ends tied up and a conclusion brought to the story.
Previously I had only read Irving's "The Cider House Rules" which I adored. This book is totally different. The characters are all literary figures which to me made it seem a bit like the author had had one good idea and then run out. The first part of the novel is far and away the best, and you get the feeling the novel runs out of steam a little after this. Sections of the second part of the novel drag aimlessly for page after page; and in the end the novel, at 537 pages long, just seems to drag. The characters are, in the most part, well formed, and the underlying story is a good basis for a novel; however, you get the feeling that a ruthless editor, cutting 100 or so pages from this would have made a "good" novel "great". In addition, rarely have I come across a book that uses so many instances of parentheses - a writing style which eventually becomes distracting and gives the novel a hint of being "unfinished" and littered with the author's after-thoughts.
However, overall I enjoyed reading this book, and once I got into the characters sped through the text in a couple of days.
I don't normally give 5-star ratings to anything because I think that they feel unrealistic and fake. But this is one the few books that anything less than 5-star would not have done justice to.
One line on the back-cover blurb caught my attention the first time I picked up this book, "... a brilliant novel about the passage of time and the relentlessness of grief". Being someone who knows what the relentlessness of grief feels like, how is overshadows everything before and after it, I felt like this book would speak to my soul. And it did not disappoint.
This is a wonderful book. And my only regret is that I did not read it sooner. Because in this book I finally found a friend. A friend who understood how the relentless grief is even with the passage of time.
Thank you, John Irving, for this friend.
One line on the back-cover blurb caught my attention the first time I picked up this book, "... a brilliant novel about the passage of time and the relentlessness of grief". Being someone who knows what the relentlessness of grief feels like, how is overshadows everything before and after it, I felt like this book would speak to my soul. And it did not disappoint.
This is a wonderful book. And my only regret is that I did not read it sooner. Because in this book I finally found a friend. A friend who understood how the relentless grief is even with the passage of time.
Thank you, John Irving, for this friend.
John Irving may write about weird stuff but I sure do love him!
I enjoyed the first part of this book - Eddie's coming of age. The middle part was very, very slow and the ending tied everything together. It was no World According To Garp, one of my all time favorite books. But Irvings storytelling skill is still there. It is just that he tends to overdo it and and drag a minor event to unnecessary length. He also spent too much time explaining the characters when he should have let the story speak for itself.
2021: It was a plot-driven, multigenerational epic that I wanted from Irving, but included characters with whom I really did not align.
This was for sure my least favorite Irving novel so far, but that's not as surprising, considering the only other three I've read are the Garp / Owen Meany / Cider House trifecta. Definitely start there (and maybe say there...) If there hadn't been such New England / Long Island / Amsterdam nostalgia for me, I might have given up on this book.
Ted is literally an insufferable character, I wanted him to go away from the moment I met him. Eddie is so soft, and does not pair well with Marion or Ruth in my opinion. Ruth was okay, but I did not agree with her outsized responses to most things. Hannah was a mess, Allan was kind of mean, Harry came out of nowhere, basically I didn't gel with any of them! And all of the characters in this book are valued based on how good they are at sex. I certainly don't judge the people I interact with in this world on their abilities in bed, unless I'm actually in bed with them.
I will say, Irving is reliably pro-abortion, and he seemed decently pro-prostitutes in this novel (he did reinforce many stereotypes, but also made several of the women into well rounded characters. I just wish he didn't kill any of them off!) Another favorite element of Irving's that I love is that he leaves no stone unturned; he answered all of my questions, and even more that I didn't even know I had. He even included the full text of the first chapter of the book that Ruth writes, just so the reader can enjoy every single word written and leave without any questions.
This was for sure my least favorite Irving novel so far, but that's not as surprising, considering the only other three I've read are the Garp / Owen Meany / Cider House trifecta. Definitely start there (and maybe say there...) If there hadn't been such New England / Long Island / Amsterdam nostalgia for me, I might have given up on this book.
Ted is literally an insufferable character, I wanted him to go away from the moment I met him. Eddie is so soft, and does not pair well with Marion or Ruth in my opinion. Ruth was okay, but I did not agree with her outsized responses to most things. Hannah was a mess, Allan was kind of mean, Harry came out of nowhere, basically I didn't gel with any of them! And all of the characters in this book are valued based on how good they are at sex. I certainly don't judge the people I interact with in this world on their abilities in bed, unless I'm actually in bed with them.
I will say, Irving is reliably pro-abortion, and he seemed decently pro-prostitutes in this novel (he did reinforce many stereotypes, but also made several of the women into well rounded characters. I just wish he didn't kill any of them off!) Another favorite element of Irving's that I love is that he leaves no stone unturned; he answered all of my questions, and even more that I didn't even know I had. He even included the full text of the first chapter of the book that Ruth writes, just so the reader can enjoy every single word written and leave without any questions.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Wonderful book by Irving. Found the characters funny and somewhat relatable.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Simply great writing. Not a book I would normally pick up, but my wife suggested it. She’s a big John Irving fan. And now so am I.