A Widow for One Year (Modern Library of the World's Best Books)
by John Irving
published
May 20th 2003
(first published 1998)
by Modern Library
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binding
Hardcover, 576 pages
isbn
0812968573
(isbn13: 9780812968576)
description
John Irving's A Widow For One Year is the epic story of a family, dysfunctional at best, unable to cope with tragedy--or with each other. The u...more
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avg 3.66
Read in September, 2008
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Read in July, 1999
I couldn't stop reading. It was one summer hot, long ago, in 1999, when the book was published in Catalan. The first part keeps being one of the most perfect pieces of writing I have ever read. Though second and third parts are fine too (second was the weakest) first one will remain on readers as a masterpiece. In fact, it's the one Tod Williams used for his movie A Door in the Floor. Both novel and film are worth reading/seeing, but I'll recommend to read Irving first.
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Read in April, 2008
This is the fourth John Irving book that I've read, and it's confirmed my idea about him being a hit-and-miss as far as I am concerned. I absolutely loved The World According to Garp and The Cider House Rules, but have not been at all impressed with this and The 158-Pound Marriage.
I can't quite put my finger on what exactly I disliked about this book. Perhaps it is only that this is my fourth John Irving novel, and the repetition of his by now too-familiar themes is be...more
I can't quite put my finger on what exactly I disliked about this book. Perhaps it is only that this is my fourth John Irving novel, and the repetition of his by now too-familiar themes is be...more
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Read in September, 2008
I picked this one to read because I saw the movie "The Door in the Floor." I believe John Irving wrote the screenplay, which was adapted from this book. Only the first section of the story is in the movie. It was strange to read how long this drama goes on in the original novel! A bit too long, actually, but still a great read.
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Read in July, 2007
John Irving has yet again created a whole world between the covers of a novel. Characters grow old with the reader, experience lust and loss, love and life. The thoughtfulness of his every detail and the concise placement of every word create a landscape more vivid than reality
One of the interesting topics of conversation in A Widow for One Year involves the main character’s attitude towards autobiographical fiction. Irving’s protagonist, world-famous author Ruth Cole, gives one hope tha...more
One of the interesting topics of conversation in A Widow for One Year involves the main character’s attitude towards autobiographical fiction. Irving’s protagonist, world-famous author Ruth Cole, gives one hope tha...more
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I loved this book. It was a page turner - I actually read it while walking from the bus - not just on the bus, actually walking. :-)
If you are one of those people who likes someone just a little bit more once you know some of their flaws, this is a great book for you.
If you are one of those people who likes someone just a little bit more once you know some of their flaws, this is a great book for you.
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Read in July, 2008
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Read in July, 2008
The first couple hundred pages of the book, before it jumps forward several decades, are the most even, and it is this part of the story that is most endearing. This first part introduces us to the story's three or four main characters and chronicles their shared summer of 1958--a summer which, you guessed it, has profound effects on the rest of all their lives.
And it is much of the rest of these lives that Irving takes us through in the remaining four hundred pages, and due to the front-hea...more
And it is much of the rest of these lives that Irving takes us through in the remaining four hundred pages, and due to the front-hea...more
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Read in June, 2008
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Read in March, 2008
When I think about a book written by John Irving, the picture that comes to mind is a vine; a vine that weaves within itself and spreads thick in it’s own mass. This is the 3rd Irving book I have read. Irving uses some of the same themes in his many novels. Boarding schools, younger men with older women are some that immediately come to mind. This particular book is about a family that lives in The Hamptons. The father, Ted is an author of children’s books. The wife, Marion, is also an...more
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One of the great books Irving has ever written, this novel is basically two stories in one. A fairly accurate and well-done film version of the first part came out a few years ago entitled "A Door in the Floor". It was well cast with Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger and filmed on location on Long Island.
This is the story of a young girl born to two people whose lives were destroyed when their two young sons were killed while driving their parents home after a night of too much dri...more
This is the story of a young girl born to two people whose lives were destroyed when their two young sons were killed while driving their parents home after a night of too much dri...more
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Read in July, 2004
The first thing that struck me about this book was the heart-stopping beauty of Marion, a central character near the beginning of the book. It's tough to get images that concrete in written words, but Irving handles it without strain. Its not just a physical description, its the way that the rest of the image is a bit darker, a bit fuzzier when Marion is in the picture, like Irving is using the depth of field in a photograph to highlight the subject, like her physical brilliance is so overwhelmi...more
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Read in February, 2005
I saw a trailer for the film based on this book, and decided I should read it again before seeing it. I love LOVE John Irving. I love what his mind comes up with. There are very few books that I am willing to re-read, but John Irving’s books are some of the few.
I was looking at the reviews on Amazon and a lot of people were getting down on the book. Because it “wasn’t realistic” - “just didn’t ring true” Fiction, people. Do we understand the concept? It’s NOT true. ...more
I was looking at the reviews on Amazon and a lot of people were getting down on the book. Because it “wasn’t realistic” - “just didn’t ring true” Fiction, people. Do we understand the concept? It’s NOT true. ...more
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I don't much know how I feel about this one. I probably would have gone for two stars if it weren't for the first section of the book, which is completely brilliant. As is the last line. But in between is rushed, contrite, and full of coincidences that seems like cheap ways to move the story along. Irving gets around conflict in the second part of the book by killing people off. Don't want to deal with the Ruth/Ted conflict? Kill him off! Don't want ruth to have to face her husband about w...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommended to Stephanie by:
Karyn
Wow. My 5th Irving, and what a good book. As usual, the author depicts scenarios that seem SO UNLIKELY! and yet they are believable and compelling.
A major theme of this novel is grief, grief for those we've lost to death, grief for our bad past choices, grief for loss of connection with the living, grief over abandonment. Connected to this, however, is the theme of love. Love of children for their parents, love of parents for children, love for our fellow man whom we may not know very we...more
A major theme of this novel is grief, grief for those we've lost to death, grief for our bad past choices, grief for loss of connection with the living, grief over abandonment. Connected to this, however, is the theme of love. Love of children for their parents, love of parents for children, love for our fellow man whom we may not know very we...more
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Read in February, 2007
I read this directly following The World According to Garp...not a good idea. The parallels are abundant, and for the first half or so of the book I wondered about Irving's fixation on writing about writers. Like song writers writing about writing songs, it's an interesting possible introspection on the writer's part, sharing their process, doubts, etc with their audience. It really can be charming, the first time around. When I get into the second and feel as though I'm reading a parallel no...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in September, 2008
recommends it for:
people who already like John Irving
Also a find at the ex-pat used book store in Costa Rica - I knew John Irving was a sure bet, and I enjoyed this book. I like his other books more, but this was still good.
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
horny bored housewives
OK here's my final word on John Irving, because I will probably never read anything else he's written (though I've heard The World According to Garp is his best.) His characters are real and they were JUST ENOUGH to keep me going each of the twenty times I nearly stopped reading this novel. The plot is a rambling patchwork in which we never, ever, forget the writer sitting at his typewriter, searching for something to say. When he finds it, he riffs on it till it dies, and then searches for some...more
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A writer writing about writers who write about writers and are married to/divorced from/give birth to writers. After a while it gets kind of "SHEESH"
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