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Nov 24, 2009

Ben rated it:

This is the new John Irving novel and it's something special. I've read a number of the man's novels and I can honestly say that Last Night in Twisted River is like nothing -- not from him, nor from anyone else -- I've read before. If you think Irving may have lost his touch; think again. His heart, his imagination, his ability to tell a creative story with realistic and colorful characters; it's all right here. John Irving has not lost his touch. This is a beautiful, violent, funny, heartb More...

184 comments like (70 people liked it)

Dec 30, 2010

Jacob rated it:

"In 1954, in the cookhouse of a logging and sawmill settlement in northern New Hampshire, an anxious twelve-year-old boy mistakes the local constable's girlfriend for a bear." And how! John Irving, a writer who doesn't shy away from sudden, violent, and often unusual deaths (and really, how else could a mistaken-for-bear incident end?), certainly lives up to his reputation: on the very first page--first sentence, really--a young Canadian logger hesitates too long; the constable's gir More...

4 comments like (7 people liked it)

Feb 09, 2011

William rated it:

I know that a lot of people, including a fair number of John Irving fans, didn't care for this book. Even so, I really liked it. Irving is a master of character development, and he didn't disappoint in this story. Each of the characters is richly drawn and interesting, and the tough ol' alcoholic logger Ketchum is quite possibly the most complicated and compelling character I've ever read in a novel. He really carried the story. I thought that the ending was a little contrived, but I still More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Nov 30, 2009

caitlin rated it:

Irving did not disappoint. All the familiar touchstones are here - bears, wrestling, New Hampshire prep school, Iowa writer's College, breasts, dead young men, overly-protective fathers - yet it's all new. Irving references himself and his critics throughout the book. The story is a lovely story of 3 men covering 50 years of their lives. The melancholy, for me, came not only from the story, but from the sense I got throughout that Irving was saying goodbye. I hope not - he's possibly my fa More...

6 comments like (8 people liked it)

Nov 20, 2009

NerdGirlBlogger rated it:

Since I saw the film "The World According to Garp" at age eleven I have wondered to myself what exactly did John Irving survive in his past? I have waited patiently for nearly thirty years to find out. I haven't ever read a single thing about John Irving's personal life; because figuring out just what happened to him to make him the type of writer he is has been a huge puzzle for me. Being a survivor of a horrific childhood myself, I knew Mr. Irving must have suffered even more than More...

1 comment like (11 people liked it)

Feb 22, 2010

Benjamin rated it:

I am a lifelong fan of John Irving and as such was thrilled to see this book on the shelves. He's not exactly prolific so I look at a new Irving book as a special treat. As B.B. King said, "the thrill is gone." I was quite disappointed in this book. While it was an enjoyable read for the most part, the plot meanders and not a lot actually happens. Ostensibly the story is about people running from their past but only rarely does it come close to catching up to them until the end wh More...

2 comments like (11 people liked it)

Sep 25, 2011

Ally rated it:

It's difficult for me to review John Irving objectively, because he is without a doubt the most beautiful author I have ever come across. Last Night does not disappoint, and reminds me why I am such a fan of his work to begin with. It did take me some time to get through - but it was definitely worth it in the end.

I will agree that at times Irving is wordy - and I learned more than I cared to about the logging industry and the technical side of cooking.

This novel, above a More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 27, 2011

Debra rated it:

Stephen King recommended author and book.

Noted author in Chapter 9 of Berkley's 1983 paperback edition of Danse Macabre.

Stephen King said: "It starts with the accidental killing of a Native American woman (the youngster who brains her with a skillet mistakes her for a bear). Father and son take off, pursued by the relentless Constable Carl for nearly 50 years. There’s a lot of Canada here, a lot of cookin’, and a lot of gorgeous (and cynical) Americana. Irving’s best sin More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 04, 2011

Dana rated it:

John Irving at his finest since Garp. I reread chapter one 3 times, entranced in the details of the boy's body drifting along the river, then getting wedged in the logs, hanging there as if a part of the tree. Then, as the story unfolds, the references to the twisting river was so amazing, relating the river as a passage of time, mannerism of writing, the taunts life brings, and how the swelling of the river can surface even the ugliest in human soul. When the little boy smashed the Indian woman More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 18, 2011

Ana rated it:

I think most people would agree with the statement that Irving is the modern Dickens. His writing belongs to the ¨more is more¨ school of writing, as he himself has stated in interviews. Colorful characters (social outcasts, prostitutes with a heart of gold, ORPHANS), great coincidences, recurring themes, endless description... I´d say Dickens is a huge influence in Irvinga writing.
As with Dickens, he is a love him or hate him author. Not many people are ¨MEH¨ about John Irving. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 09, 2011

Julie rated it:

Does anyone else think that this is one of the worst books ever? I mean, not even among Irving's?? Where was the editor?? This had all the marks of a poor first novel, not the twelfth by (what I used to think) a first rate novelist. Cannot believe I slogged through the entire 550 pp; the story could've been told in 250, tops. So much repetition. Telling rather than showing. One dimensional characters. No apparent reasons for their actions at many points. Over-description. We know the bear smells More...

1 comment like (10 people liked it)

Mar 15, 2011

Kate marked it as to-read

I love John Irving's work. This story is even more enjoyable in that it takes place where my husband is from in Northern NH. I keep asking him about the various rivers and ponds that Irving mentions. It also talks in depth about the logging industry, a job that my father-in-law is still a part of. Irving's books always spark a personal connection for me, mostly because of the area he writes about and his occasional connection to private school education. I'm anxious to read more but so far I'm More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 12, 2010

Marla rated it:

He's done it again. I actually can't wait to read this again -- and I rarely reread books. I loved the characters, of course, and his humor, but mostly I liked the way Irving played with the book, the plot, everything. You can tell he just had a really good time creating this story; and I, for one, am glad he did.

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 06, 2011

Ron added it

Yet another masterful novel by the master. It's the tale of a father and son and friends, with their 50 years of adventures in northern New Hampshire, Boston, Iowa and Toronto. Irving once again creates some extremely memorable characters [esp the wonderful Ketchum] and the twists and turns in the plot which are his trademark. We learn about the worlds of logging communities and a variety of restaurants; we meet people from many backgrounds [First Peoples, Italian, Latin American and I became f More...

0 comments like

Sep 23, 2011

Judith rated it:

I like Irving, and I liked his approach in this novel, though it isn't my favorite within his oeuvre. I cannot imagine writing a novel backward...that is, beginning with the last sentence then backward to the opening, which is how Irving writes, and how his writing protagonist Daniel Baciagalupo writes. Much of the narrative describes Daniel's writing technique and I found it labored, without the language that might carry it gracefully. So, writer stuff...not so much. The food/cooking stuff w More...

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Aug 11, 2011

Janneke rated it:

A Widow for one Year published in 1998 was the last book by John Irving I read. Last Night in Twisted River is his twelfth novel and much is familiar. Irving is a great storyteller and his books are overcrowded with major and minor characters, bizarre adventures and little facts about anything and everything. In 1954 the Italian American cook Dominic Baciagalupo lives with his son Daniel in Twisted River, a primitive settlement in New Hampshire. At first the story ripples slowly forward until Da More...

0 comments like

Jul 27, 2011

Amy rated it:

'Last Night in Twisted River'....

Years ago - in High School, actually, I read a book called 'Setting Free the Bears', which was wild and funny and tragic. I didn't pay any attention to who the author was - who does, in High School? Years later, when I read 'The World According to Garp' I thought, 'this book reminds me of that setting free bears book' - and lo and behold., there was John Irving. I have read all his books since 'Garp', one of the few authors I just read without thinking about it More...

0 comments like

Apr 19, 2011

Ruth rated it:

I've never read a John Irving book before, and this one was pretty interesting, with memorable characters, though it might have been a bit too long. It starts out with a cook father, his son, and their logger friend dealing with a tragic incident in a Vermont logging town and unwinds to become the lifelong saga of these three men as they try to escape/outrun/atone for their secrets and find some kind of happiness. I like how Irving moves back and forth through time- he does this thing where he More...

0 comments like

Mar 13, 2011

Greg rated it:

About midway through John Irving's new novel, a skydiver is blown a bit off course and accidentally lands in a poop-filled pig pen. Oh yeah, and the skydiver is a rather large woman...and she's naked. The scene makes about as much sense in the scheme of the plot of the novel as it does here. But Irving's latest effort is so carefully constructed, so deliberately and cautiously revealed, that by the time you're reading this scene, you've already learned that such absurdities aren't just slapstick More...

0 comments like

Feb 26, 2011

switterbug (Betsey) rated it:

A veteran enthusiast of John Irving's novels will yield to this story as a ballad and homage to his entire body of work--sprayed with a mist of Dylan. Readers unfamiliar with Irving may not be impressed--they will have a lot more to complain about. So don't start here if you are largely uninitiated with this author. Begin with his fourth book, the tour de force, The World According to Garp (Modern Library) or his masterpiece, A Prayer for Owen Meany (Modern Library). And then work your way throu More...

0 comments like

Feb 23, 2011

Garrett rated it:

I am disappointed that I waited so long to read this book, because I absolutely loved it. I guess I should confess up front that it's probably totally parochial of me to love a book about characters from Northern New Hampshire, set largely in New England. But even though I do have oddly romantic memories of playing hockey in the town of Berlin, NH, where the smell of the paper mills on the Androscoggin River used to permeate for miles, I don't think that's why I liked this book so much.
More...

0 comments like

Feb 04, 2011

James rated it:

Irving is a genius. I state that upfront to make it clear where my review is coming from. No, Last Night in Twisted River is not his finest work. But even coming in at average, Irving outguns almost everyone else out there. And when I consider all the books I have given four stars to that don't even begin to compare to this one, I wish I could add another star on the scale, just to capture my feelings for Irving's greater works (Garp and Owen Meany come to mind).
This book contains all of t More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 20, 2011

Elsje rated it:

Het meest recente boek van John Irving is weer een Echte Irving. Een boek van een meesterverteller met alle ingredienten die een Irvingroman behoort te hebben: New Hampshire, beren, bijzondere mensen waaraan een stevig steekje los is en die bizarre dingen overkomen of waaraan een stevig steekje los is door de dingen die ze overkomen. En toch kan ik er niet laaiend over zijn.

Het verhaal
De jonge Daniel Baciagalupo woont met zijn vader in een houthakkerskamp Twisted River ergens in N More...

2 comments like

Jan 01, 2011

Tony rated it:

Irving, John. LAST NIGHT IN TWISTED RIVER. (2009). **. Irving has written some marvelous books; unfortunately, this isn’t one of them. The first fifty pages or so set the scene and introduce the main characters, and it is all very interersting. We get to meet Dominic, a cook at a lumber camp in New Hampshire. Dominic is a widower, and sees to it that his son, Danny, is brought up right. Danny is twelve years old and hasn’t gone to school much, but he loves to read. The lumbermen around More...

0 comments like

Nov 29, 2010

Derek rated it:

No question you're reading a John Irving book... there are bears, farting dogs, car sex, tragic deaths, and wrestling. (The narrator also makes a large number of asides in parentheses.) Last Night in Twisted River spans several decades and multiple locations as it tells the story of Dominic (the cook) and Daniel Baciagalupo (his son the writer), Ketchum (the logger) and the women with whom they have relationships from Daniel's preteen years until his sixties. Irving poignantly describes the impa More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 06, 2010

Darin rated it:

This book was a slow burn. It was one of those books I put down a few times and forgot about. But I kept pushing back to it since I trust Irving. Eventually, it got me. The book has a very current meta quality in it, it's often hard to tell if Irving is writing about a character or writing about himself. One of the main characters IS an author after all and much of the story is told from this perspective. This allows Irving a lot of play. The characters reveal themselves through what they 'actua More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Sep 03, 2010

Liz rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Aug 27, 2010

Ellen rated it:

This is probably not Irving's best book but I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. Once I got past the dull beginning, the story sucked me right in.

The novel is about the bonds between men. It's sort of a coming-of-age novel, Irving style - which is to say quirky. The story follows the lives of a cook, his son and the cook's best friend over the course of about 50 years. Most of the women come and go but what sustains the men through the tragedies and sorrows of life is their lo More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 19, 2010

Oobydoo65 rated it:

I love John Irving. He is easily one of my top 3 American authors--of all time. His books Cider House Rules, Hotel New Hampshire, A Prayer for Owen Meany and The World According to Garp are 4 of my all time favorite books.
It took me a long time to get into this book. A lot of character development, characters introduced you never really meet. It seemed like a long way around to get to the end. For awhile I was fairly disappointed in the novel.
But like his earlier novels, this one had More...

0 comments like

Aug 18, 2010

Dilip rated it:

In Coos County, New Hampshire, Dominic Baciagalupo cooks for a logging camp while bringing up his 12 year old son Daniel whose mother was killed in a river accident. Dominic has a lover, a native Indian woman known as “Injun“ Jane. One dark night, Daniel sees Jane straddled atop his father making love, and mistakes her for a bear. Instinctively defending his father, he clubs his father’s paramour with a skillet. The incident is fraught with complications because Jane is also the girlfriend of th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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