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A review by jingyao
A Widow for One Year by John Irving
3.0
My only other John Irving read is Garp and this book is unfortunately a disappointment after reading Garp. In a Best and Worst of John Irving blog post a blogger said "But around the time of A Widow for One Year I began to grow tired of what appeared to be the lazy writer’s habit of recycling his earlier novels" - so I really ought to have just read Garp, Meany and Cider, and called it a day with John Irving.
It is incredible how much overlapping there is between this book and Garp. In Widow, the main character is a writer, and her father, mother, mother's ex-lover and best friend are all writers. In fact, the main character is writing a novel about a writer and struggling with writing purely fictional, as opposed to autobiographical, content. In Garp, the main character and his mother are both writers. It makes one wonder if Irving knows how to write about professions other than his own. The two main characters went to an elite private high school and their parents are alums/faculty at the school - same as Garp. And yes there are European prostitutes, and mini-stories within story, just like Garp. There's a lot of overlapping with the author's life too. This repetition reveals itself on a micro level too. For instance, we get that the main character has great breasts and every man she comes across absolutely has to stare - no need to talk about that 50 times. And I can't help but notice that the phrase "let someone's remark pass" shows up 3 times in the course of 5 pages.
The plots are a lot less powerful and tight than Garp too. Actually, the first out of the three section showed great potential. The plots are very creative and interesting, and I dove into it thinking "wow, Irving is Irving! Always an enjoyable read." However, with the shift of narration to the other main character (Ruth) in the second section, the result is that I didn't sufficiently bond with either main character to care that much about their fates. The second section in the beginning devoted great lengths to Ruth's several novel's plots and new novel's development, as well as her dating life and relationship with her best friend. That's probably my least favorite part of the book - it didn't help me understand adult Ruth or her best friend more, and the ensuing adventure in Amsterdam again took a such a drastic turn that the plots do not feel tight. Ruth as a character is also quite perfect, rational and showed little emotion in the face of deaths that I fail to connect with her or care about her "little misfortune." The characters of Hannah and Allan are also quite flat and never got fully developed, so I was surprised that Irving let them into such important roles as the plot progresses.
I finished it because Irving's style still makes it an enjoyable read overall, just not as powerful as what I expected from Irving's potential. I'll still read Meany and/or Cider - hopefully they live up to their strong reviews.
It is incredible how much overlapping there is between this book and Garp. In Widow, the main character is a writer, and her father, mother, mother's ex-lover and best friend are all writers. In fact, the main character is writing a novel about a writer and struggling with writing purely fictional, as opposed to autobiographical, content. In Garp, the main character and his mother are both writers. It makes one wonder if Irving knows how to write about professions other than his own. The two main characters went to an elite private high school and their parents are alums/faculty at the school - same as Garp. And yes there are European prostitutes, and mini-stories within story, just like Garp. There's a lot of overlapping with the author's life too. This repetition reveals itself on a micro level too. For instance, we get that the main character has great breasts and every man she comes across absolutely has to stare - no need to talk about that 50 times. And I can't help but notice that the phrase "let someone's remark pass" shows up 3 times in the course of 5 pages.
The plots are a lot less powerful and tight than Garp too. Actually, the first out of the three section showed great potential. The plots are very creative and interesting, and I dove into it thinking "wow, Irving is Irving! Always an enjoyable read." However, with the shift of narration to the other main character (Ruth) in the second section, the result is that I didn't sufficiently bond with either main character to care that much about their fates. The second section in the beginning devoted great lengths to Ruth's several novel's plots and new novel's development, as well as her dating life and relationship with her best friend. That's probably my least favorite part of the book - it didn't help me understand adult Ruth or her best friend more, and the ensuing adventure in Amsterdam again took a such a drastic turn that the plots do not feel tight. Ruth as a character is also quite perfect, rational and showed little emotion in the face of deaths that I fail to connect with her or care about her "little misfortune." The characters of Hannah and Allan are also quite flat and never got fully developed, so I was surprised that Irving let them into such important roles as the plot progresses.
I finished it because Irving's style still makes it an enjoyable read overall, just not as powerful as what I expected from Irving's potential. I'll still read Meany and/or Cider - hopefully they live up to their strong reviews.