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karenbacke's review against another edition
1.0
HATED this. I tried a few other Irvings to get the high I did w/Owen Meany, but this was another array of the same Irving stock characters, events and sexcapades, but even more tiresome.
alixgb's review against another edition
3.0
The book is written in three parts. It begins with the main character's (Ruth) childhood from the point of view of her mother's lover and then jumps to her in adulthood. The last part is from a separate character's point of view and felt disjointed. A majority of the characters are writers and the excerpts of their writing within the story didn't help the chunky feel of the novel. It literally feels like a different book is written into the middle. I appreciated the unique characters and gender themes. Strangely told, but an interesting read.
sarajaneandtall's review against another edition
4.0
Gripping, disturbing, frustrating, and pretty wonderfully strange.
aks_maine's review against another edition
4.0
I had a hard time determining if I actually liked this book, or if my enjoyment simply came from the fact that A Widow For One Year is EONS better than the last John Irving book that I read (Until I Find You). Thinking it over, I have decided that I actually really liked the story. It was nowhere near Hotel NH, Owen Meany, Garp, or Cider House Rules, but I really enjoyed the characters and the plot line. The first section is the strongest part of the book, but it's worth it to see how the rest of the life comes together. One thing that I found interesting was that the primary main character (that sounds redundant, but it makes sense - I swear) was a woman, which goes from JI's usual style of having the focus be on a man. He wrote it well and had some really strong characters. Not a classic, but very good none the less.
renatasnacks's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this, but not as much as I liked [book:A Prayer for Owen Meany]. Here are some reasons I liked it less, I think: more cleverly self-aware, which I usually like, but somehow not here; less likeable characters, I suppose?; while being more self-aware (a lot of writing about writing about writing...) also being less believable, to me.
BUT STILL: I like John Irving's prose, and even though I found myself liking the characters less than those in Owen Meany, I still did care for them.
BUT STILL: I like John Irving's prose, and even though I found myself liking the characters less than those in Owen Meany, I still did care for them.
balise's review against another edition
5.0
This is mostly the story of four characters, Ted Cole, Marion Cole, their daughter Ruth Cole, and Eddie O'Hare, who's been hired as Ted's assistant/chauffeur as Ruth is 4 years old. The story happens at three different stages: when Ruth is 4, 36 and 41 years old, respectively. The first part is more Eddie's story, the last two are more Ruth's story. There's just enough improbability, it's rather funny, sometimes disturbing - it's not my favorite Irving (because that would be Cider House Rules, obviously), but it's still Irving. Weirdly enough, I had read this one a few years ago, a lot of details came back to me while I was reading, but the main story had completely eluded me.
writerlytype's review against another edition
I love many other John Irving books but not this one. I admit it has been decades since I last read something of his but I had fond memories of being swept up by Owen Meany in college and thought perhaps one of his novels would be a good kickstart for my 20 in 2020 challenge. But this particular novel has not aged well. And my tastes have definitely changed.
vanities's review against another edition
2.0
I expected more after reading garp but this book is pretty boring. A lot of randomness and nonsense that isn't even entertaining. The size of Ruths breast are apparently a huge importance to this story. As i did while reading garp I wondered who was the main character of this book. I think it's ruth's tits.
jeenwheetson's review against another edition
1.0
What a terrible book. This book has nearly ruined John Irving for me. When you commit to read 500 pages, you hope you can trust the author to actually take you somewhere. This was one rambling side story after another, mostly thinly veiled journal entries about the role of personal experience in writing fiction. An actual book about writing would have been much more engaging. There is tragedy and sexual deviance and sprawling intergenerational tales set in New England just like usual with Irving, but they're all a mess, they don't fit together at all. I've only read about half of Irving's books, but I'm afraid I've already covered all the good ones.