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A review by bittersweet_symphony
A Widow for One Year by John Irving
2.0
This may be the last John Irving book I read for a while. He is my favorite author, one who inspired me to become a writer myself. A Prayer for Owen Meany, Cider House Rules, The Hotel New Hampshire, and Last Night in Twisted River are all great books. This reads more like a patchwork of Irving's ideas that have not been fully formed. He appears to still be writing out loud possible plots and character details, but fails to refine them enough. He gives a million details when only half of them give interesting character insights and drive the plot forward.
I sound off another critique that others have stated in reviews of his other books. It has slowly creeped up on me, but has become the final blow. He cannot write female characters very well. Actually, I modify that a bit by saying his female characters are nearly identical copies of two different types--the most common one being the one I will describe. The reality is, I rarely interact with or befriend women in real life who resemble his female characters. They are harsh, vulgar, unsentimental, emotionally closed-off, detached, unfeeling, irritating, unfriendly, and lack all nurturing qualities.
His prose is still reliably, Irving--full of details adding history, and peculiarity to characters and places.
Several novels later it has become clear which themes, and events must be biographical from Irving's life. His own psychology is on open display here. I believe in a recent interview Irving revealed that he was "deflowered" by an older woman when he was only a teenager--a much older woman--which not only happens as a central event in this book, but holds as a theme common to his other novels. Additionally, you will read about orphanesque characters, surprising deaths, sexual "deviants", and writers with specific passages and plot-lines from the fictitious novels included in A Widow for One Year.
This is my least favorite Irving book next to The World According to Garp. Whenever I am ready to end my break from Irving, I plan to read Until I Find You. Until then, I am after other authors with equal interest in orphan archetypes, comical characters, tragic family dynamics set in quaint or idyllic backdrops, and a love for quirky personal qualities.
Irving is a phenomenal writer, but I recommend any of his other books besides this one.
I feel compelled to write this again. His female characters are terribly unappealing. If Irving could write a female character I could fall in love with, then I would be hooked for life. In the end, I believe Irving and I just have difference preferences in women. I wish I didn't have to accept that.
I sound off another critique that others have stated in reviews of his other books. It has slowly creeped up on me, but has become the final blow. He cannot write female characters very well. Actually, I modify that a bit by saying his female characters are nearly identical copies of two different types--the most common one being the one I will describe. The reality is, I rarely interact with or befriend women in real life who resemble his female characters. They are harsh, vulgar, unsentimental, emotionally closed-off, detached, unfeeling, irritating, unfriendly, and lack all nurturing qualities.
His prose is still reliably, Irving--full of details adding history, and peculiarity to characters and places.
Several novels later it has become clear which themes, and events must be biographical from Irving's life. His own psychology is on open display here. I believe in a recent interview Irving revealed that he was "deflowered" by an older woman when he was only a teenager--a much older woman--which not only happens as a central event in this book, but holds as a theme common to his other novels. Additionally, you will read about orphanesque characters, surprising deaths, sexual "deviants", and writers with specific passages and plot-lines from the fictitious novels included in A Widow for One Year.
This is my least favorite Irving book next to The World According to Garp. Whenever I am ready to end my break from Irving, I plan to read Until I Find You. Until then, I am after other authors with equal interest in orphan archetypes, comical characters, tragic family dynamics set in quaint or idyllic backdrops, and a love for quirky personal qualities.
Irving is a phenomenal writer, but I recommend any of his other books besides this one.
I feel compelled to write this again. His female characters are terribly unappealing. If Irving could write a female character I could fall in love with, then I would be hooked for life. In the end, I believe Irving and I just have difference preferences in women. I wish I didn't have to accept that.