A review by geoffreyjen
A Widow for One Year by John Irving

5.0

I rewatched the film "The Door in the Floor" this week - I loved that film, which I thought a brilliant portrayal of dealing with immeasurable pain. I had dipped into Irving's book before but never read it all the way through, which I finally did. And although the book is quirky (as are all Irving's books I might add), the story does come to terms with the opening section and its opacity. The opening section, which is the part of the book that made it into the film, was in some ways different from most of Irving's writing - a little less quirky, perhaps, although he says of his own writing that it is always about dealing with pain, and I think that is true. I loved the book, even though the middle was "forced" in some ways (again, as are all Irving's book). Then I read the Afterword, which I found equally brilliant and one of the few times I have encountered a writer's words about writing that actually taught me something interesting and new, a lesson I could use in my own writing. I was listening to an interview with another writer on CBC today, and the other writer said that good writing has "wild exactitude", a wonderful description of Irving's writing. Highly recommended.