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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
My first feeling at the end of this book was having been at a banquet but having room only for an appetizer. I read the author's afterword and reflected. This novel is multilayered consisting of 51 novelettes that intertwine and depend on each other to create this piece of extensive literature.
I enjoy his novels and like his tone and style, despite how perverse he can be.
I'm not a big John Irving fan. Indeed, I'm not even remotely partial to him. That said, the first part of this book was really good. Very evocative, very moving, very engaging. After that, it falls apart, falling into all the Irving cliches i weary of very quickly.
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Murder
I tend to believe that the first of the three parts of this novel is the best (this first part was the basis for the film The Door in the Floor, which was actually pretty good). Its been some time since I read this one, but I remember becoming less and less empathetic toward the characters in parts two and three.
This novel has many of Irving's trademarks, including ingenious long-term plotting and a quirky characters. The book is ostensibly about Ruth Cole, a young woman whose mother leaves her and her father when Ruth is 4-years-old, and who grows up to be a writer. However, it's really a book about grief and how one terrible incident affects several lives for 4 decades. Ruth's mother leaves because she can't get over the death of Ruth's two older brothers. Ruth's father is a misogynistic skirt-chaser. And Eddie, a 16-year-old writer's assistant to Ruth's father (a famous writer of children's books), falls in love with Ruth's mother and never gets over it for decades. This wasn't my favorite Irving of all time, but even a second-rate Irving is bound to be an fun read. I enjoyed it.
The movie based off this story focuses on the family tragedy story line, but I find the mother's time in Amsterdam observing prostitutes far more interesting.