Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
Very slow to begin with, but a very powerful story of the strength of a father, son and best friend.
This novel starts off a little slowly, and it never reaches the heights of, say, A Prayer for Owen Meany, but it is an exceptionally good read. It incorporates so many different elements for which John Irving has become famous. Really good.
While I am impressed by Irving's skill in developing characters and story lines, I find myself becoming increasingly disappointed by his tendency to repeat himself. Although he is a good writer, he does not branch out into new territory.
very little happens excruciatingly slowly. even for John Irving this is glacially paced. and oh the amount of repetition...the same stories told from several points of view adding very little in the process.
If you're familiar with John Irving, you know what to expect. It's long. There are bears. There are children ripe to be traumatized. There are rambling side trips which eventually meander back to the main story. Or maybe they are the story, it's hard to be sure with an Irving novel. It's an epic stroll through lives of quirky characters. None of these things will surprise or daunt an Irving fan. This is all part of the charm of his writing. He weaves long. leisurely, intricate stories which catch you up and plop you into the middle of a life at once both more interesting and more tragic than your own. Not his best work, in my opinion, but certainly, always, unfailingly, worth the read.
Definitely not my favorite John Irving. I kind of couldn't wait until it was done. Very predictable, characters not all that compelling. But hey, it's John Irving!
If we look back on our lives, we can all pinpoint one single act that set into motion a chain of events that spiraled out of our control. If you have kids, then you also know that a parent will do absolutely anything to protect their child. These two statements aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive and serve as the catalyst for Last Night In Twisted River by John Irving, which follows a logging camp cook and his son over several decades as they try to escape their past and forge a new future.
The book starts out by introducing the reader to the logging camp cook and his 12-year old son, who live in Coos County, New Hampshire. Life is decent, if not great, and they bumble through the days with a quiet dignity. That is until the cook’s son mistakes a woman for a bear and defends his father against her, forcing them to flee the town and people they know to escape the clutches of a violent, alcoholic constable. From there, the story follows them over the next five decades as they bounce around from state to state (and even to Canada) to avoid detection. With the help of an old logger friend, they take on assumed identities and are prepared to pull up roots at a moment’s notice. It’s easy to imagine the toll this takes on them, and Irving is not shy about weaving the effects into their personalities and actions.
As with most longer books, it’s a bit slow-going at first as Irving provides detailed background on the characters. It soon picks up the pace, though, and the enhanced background enriches the story as it progresses. It also forces the reader to connect with the characters early on, which, to be frank, gives Irving the power to punch you in the gut. If you’ve read A Prayer for Owen Meany, then you know exactly what I mean by this.
For the full review, visit The Book Wheel.
The book starts out by introducing the reader to the logging camp cook and his 12-year old son, who live in Coos County, New Hampshire. Life is decent, if not great, and they bumble through the days with a quiet dignity. That is until the cook’s son mistakes a woman for a bear and defends his father against her, forcing them to flee the town and people they know to escape the clutches of a violent, alcoholic constable. From there, the story follows them over the next five decades as they bounce around from state to state (and even to Canada) to avoid detection. With the help of an old logger friend, they take on assumed identities and are prepared to pull up roots at a moment’s notice. It’s easy to imagine the toll this takes on them, and Irving is not shy about weaving the effects into their personalities and actions.
As with most longer books, it’s a bit slow-going at first as Irving provides detailed background on the characters. It soon picks up the pace, though, and the enhanced background enriches the story as it progresses. It also forces the reader to connect with the characters early on, which, to be frank, gives Irving the power to punch you in the gut. If you’ve read A Prayer for Owen Meany, then you know exactly what I mean by this.
For the full review, visit The Book Wheel.
Beautifully written, with intense detail. I found it overly long, though. I kept having to remind myself that the book was as much about the journey as the destination.
There were several four star parts in this book but Lord it was tough getting thru the one star parts to find them. About 300 pages too long. A lot of incest talk and other things that rambled on for days and didn’t have much to do with anything. This is the first book I actually considered throwing into the fire. For real.
Very entertaining with characters that are entrancing. One of my favorites of his books.