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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
A very Irving-ish Irving. There are the multiple autobiographical touches as well as the fixation on sex (especially kinky sex) that we've come to expect from Irving, lots of literary allusion and some magical realism thrown in for good measure (ghosts, anyone)? But speaking of ghosts, the over-arching theme of this one seems to be death: how we navigate and process the deaths of both our loved ones and our enemies, and how we each must eventually come to terms with our own mortality, even as we "try not to think about the vanishing." Those are the sections I liked best.
Doesn't seem right to rate it when I made it less than 100 pages into an 800+ page book, but I think "tedious" best describes Irving's latest. The amount of time spent describing the characters' favorite actors and movies was enough to convince me life is too short to commit to that level of unnecessary detail.
This, in ski racing parlance, is a DNF. I was so looking forward to reading a new John Irving and it hit all the marks for me, in theory - skiing, a major plot point; main character, a writer; set in New England; main character moves to Toronto; lots of quirky friends and relatives, but it was a Did Not Finish. I tried, really I did, made it almost a third of the way through. That's about 300 pages of the 900 written, practically an entire book by most authors but I had to stop. I loved "The World According to Garp" and "The Hotel New Hampshire" back in the day, they were great stories that dealt with topics very few other authors touched - abortion, LGBTQ2S+ characters but "The Last Chairlift" is either 80 year old author trying too hard or the editors just let Irving do whatever he wanted. In either case, it was a huge disappointment.
slow-paced
Yuck, what a waste of time. Felt like this book was a last ditch effort, and memoir of the authors‘ life and misgivings. Almost Every chapter had somebody die. Looking for any messages or positive aspects of the book, I would have to say that I appreciated the unconditional love that was shared amongst some the friends and family members. I did not like all the Inappropriate sexual boundaries being crossed (felt like I was reading about multiple Freudian Issues that the author had never dealt with in his declared “last novel.” I did appreciate the recognition of the atrocities to the LGBTQ communities that were ostracize, unsupported, harmed or even innocently killed. I also appreciated the Political views by the author who pointed out the personal biases, absurdity, irony, and Lack of compassion for all people.
If you liked; Garp or Owen Meany pick this one up. If you have the option; read in the winter for extra effect.
This is Irving's first book in about seven years. I have loved his writing for decades and was so excited to read this and it was honestly a crushing disappointment. It has many of his trademark subjects; wrestling, sexuality and gender etc, but I struggled to find anything new he had to say about any of it. It was massive, coming in at just over 900 pages and honestly could have done with a significant edit. I was so sad about this.
Amazing, bewildering, timely and engaging. Only a journey that John Irving with his unique views and talents could take a reader.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Solid but not Irving’s best - at more then 900 pages, it could have used a bit more editing
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I just couldn’t finish this one and historically I have loved John Irving. The story just DOES NOT MOVE! Typically I hav riding Irving’s books to be character driven and full of crazy and unusual characters. This book is the same but with such weak storytelling they even the zany characters couldn’t keep me interested. The timeline is all over the place, sometimes the MC is 35 and sometimes he’s 17 and sometimes he’s 50. Irving has literally lost the plot and I can’t find it either. So disappointing since The Cider House Rules and A Prayer for Owen Meany are two of my all time faves