It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness. The stories have such depth to them that they cannot be rushed if they are to be appreciated, and it's better to give in to his writing style and enjoy the ride. I am a long-term fan of John Irving and think that The Cider House Rules is probably my favourite book. And, yeah, Ketchum, 'Constipated Christ' is clearly what an old river driver would say. He's not exactly prolific so I look at a new Irving book as a special treat. Sorry, there was a problem loading this page. JOHN IRVING was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1942. This character's career mirrors Irvi. I state that upfront to make it clear where my review is coming from. What further distinguishes Last Night in Twisted River is the author's unmistakable voice—the inimitable voice of an accomplished storyteller. (He competed as a wrestler for twenty years, until he was thirty-four, and coached the sport until he was forty-seven). 'The World According to Garp, which won the National Book Award in 1980, was John Irving's fourth novel and his first international bestseller; it also became a George Roy Hill film. You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition. Both the twelve-year-old and his father become fugitives, forced to run from Coos County–to Boston, to southern Vermont, to Toronto–pursued by the I loved he finely got together with the balloon lady, becoming soul mates. I really like the descriptions of rural settings and of life in Coos County, but then everything goes downhill. The Summer Job: The most feel-good romcom of 2021 soon to be a TV series, Time for Goodbyes (Oak River Boys Book 1). Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 January 2010. “River of Lights” is the most lights on any river you’ll ever float, according to the county. One dimensional characters. John Irving at his finest since Garp. I just knew this was the one. It satisfied my taste for his blend of absurd tragedy and sentimentality, larger-than-life characters rendered as grittily real, and warm-hearted evocation of places and communities in New England. In a story spanning five decades, Last Night in Twisted River depicts the recent half-century in the United States as “a living replica of Coos County, where lethal hatreds were … About Last Night in Twisted River. Readers unfamiliar with Irving may not be impressed--they will have a lot more to complain about. 0345479734 . Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Colorful characters (social outcasts, prostitutes with a heart of gold, ORPHANS), great coincidences,and endless descriptions of, well, everything, abound in his body of work. The story is a lovely story of 3 men covering 50 years of their lives. Near the end of this moving novel, John Irving writes: “We don’t always have a choice how we get to know one another. Irving spends pages showing off his knowledge or research which does little to carry the plot forward. What further distinguishes Last Night in Twisted River is the author’s unmistakable voice–the inimitable voice of an accomplished storyteller. And oh - there are even a few bear stories. What further distinguishes Last Night in Twisted River is the author’s unmistakable voice—the inimitable voice of an accomplished storyteller. What I disliked most about this book was that the author seemed to make it OK for a boy/man to have sex with an aunt (mother's sister). Does anyone else think that this is one of the worst books ever? He escapes the Vietnam war on a technicality! I think they are missing the point - an Irving book isn't about where the journey of reading ends, it's about the journey itself. I should mention that I’m quite prejudiced here, because I love just about anything John Irving writes, but this is certainly one of his best books. What the ??? Then, the eventual grudge homicide--it was almost a relief! The characters that started out so promising, evolved into flat, lifeless souls. I mean, not even among Irving's?? That said, Last Night in Twisted River was not his best. By Lucy Daniel 16 November 2009 • 11:18am . Twisted. English. [I still don't like the ending. The protagonist accidentally kills his surrogate mother figure whom he's kind of attracted to by hitting her in the temple! 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. As the boy grew up I cried for the loss of his "Indian mother", praised his courage, laughed over the lust for the 'balloon" woman,and later appreciated the married man he had become. Publication date. In a story spanning five decades, Last Night in Twisted River - John Irving's twelfth novel - depicts the recent half-century in the United States as a world 'where lethal hatreds were generally permitted to run their course.' The first part of this book is engaging and interesting. AS in the beginning, I reread the last 3/4 chapters over several times. The Devil and the Dark Water: The mind-blowing new murder mystery from the Sunday T... A Man With One of Those Faces (The Dublin Trilogy Book 1), Goodbye to Budapest: A Novel of the Hungarian Uprising, Lost Child: A Gripping Psychological Thriller, Honor: A Dark Age Historical Fiction Novel (Thrones and Soldiers Book 1). Scenes and situations where the characters were like a bad writing exercise ("throw a two year old into a hippie drug party with his neglectful mother and abiding, caring father and then let him remember specific, meaaningful gist from it in his 40's"?) Cannot believe I slogged through the entire 550 pp; the story could've been told in 250, tops. Last Night in Twisted River is a novel of excellence. If you do not want to accept all cookies or would like to learn more about how we use cookies, click "Customise cookies". And that was my first mistake. The story is a lovely story of 3 men covering 50 years of their lives. There are quirky characters, several coming of age, (sexual), stories; a non-traditional, bordering on, dysfunctional family; tragedy and violence, (similar to the author’s previous books, this mayhem borders on the cartoonish or even Three Stooge-ish); there is dark humor and a lot of not so subtle foreshadowing. He competed as a wrestler for twenty years, and coached wrestling until he was forty-seven. This had all the marks of a poor first novel, not the twelfth by (what I used to think) a first rate novelist. Kurt Vonnegut is name-dropped! C'mon. Because his characters are likeable and sometimes struggling and Irving compels the reader to want those characters to succeed. Again. Sometimes, people fall into our lives cleanly--as if out of the sky, or as if there were a direct flight from Heaven to Earth--the same sudden way we lose people, who once seemed they would always be part of our lives”, “If we live long enough, we become caricatures of ourselves.”. Publisher: Random House Publishing Group Kindle Book. Last Night in Twisted River is a big, old-fashioned novel in the best sense; Irving has created in painstaking, loving detail a whole and complete world, a record of momentous social changes, but, above all a testament to the enduring power of love and fiction. Women always way too: motherly-sweet (Carmella, Charlotte); or way bad-ass/drug & alcohol addicted/whorish/white-trash/unredeemable (Rosie, Katie, Six-Pack Pam, Dot, May); or they have some kind of mysterious/angelic qualities--conveniently, because they're DEAD (Injun Jane, & Lady Sky). In 1954, in the cookhouse of a logging and sawmill settlement in northern New Hampshire, a twelve-year-old boy mistakes the local constable's girlfriend for a bear. Irving did not disappoint. The more Irving you have read, the more poignant and personally enriching is the symbolism and recurrent themes of this lugubrious tale; you will be less distracted by his prolixity. A careful reading of Last Night in Twisted River turns out to be richly rewarding, for this multilayered novel is, in part, an emotionally resonant exploration of 50 years of American life and, in a way, of Irving’s own life as a writer. Start by marking “Last Night in Twisted River” as Want to Read: Error rating book. But the way this story was written, having a sexual relationship with your aunt was a normal thing - there were no regrets or any hint that the character realized that it was incest. E-mail after purchase. The 555 pages could easily have been condensed to half that. Telling rather than showing. This big-hearted, brilliantly written and superbly realised inter-generational tale of a father and son on the lam, and their flawed protector, stands comparison with the very best of Irving’s previous work. Last Night in Twisted River A Novel. Their lone protector is a fierce. Their lone protector is a fiercely libertarian logger, once a river driver, who befriends them. 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 which you see com, I am a lifelong fan of John Irving and as such was thrilled to see this book on the shelves. Written in Irving's typical sprawling prose, Last Night in Twisted River offers a breathtaking account of recent history in the US. A novel about the art of writing as much as about its characters. There were times that I was completely engrossed in the story... but there were parts in the middle. For me, Irving writes books as Beethoven wrote music -- in a minor key. 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. Language. Both the twelve-year-old and his father become fugitives, pursued by the constable. 620 372 2MB Read more. This is the new John Irving novel and it's something special. The first part of this book is engaging and interesting. The characters are overly colorful, and the story - though not necessarily believable - moves along at a great pace. Unlike may of his books I found this hard to get into but once I did it was a page-turner. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. I love John Irving. June 15, 2010. This had the usual complex, character driven, quirky plot but his strength, as ever, is in his writing style, which is faultless and very distinctive. The body of Ava Gray was pulled last night from the River Leven in the West Dunbartonshire village of Balloch following a three-hour search. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. 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. I really like the descriptions of rural settings and of life in Coos County, but then everything goes downhill. John Irving fans, does this book seem like it has a different tone and writing style than most Irving books? Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 April 2016. Last Night in Twisted River is set in 1954. His writing belongs to the ¨more is more¨ school of writing, as he himself has stated in numerous interviews. I also felt he unnecessarily detoured into politics. I hope not - he's possibly my favorite writer and I would miss him. Cannot believe I slogged through the entire 550 pp; the story could've been told in 250, tops. When the little boy smashed the Indian woman in the head, it was so brutal, I think I even got a head ache! Irving also has started repeating himself. Irving's novels are now translated into thirty-five foreign languages, and he has had nine international bestsellers. His first novel, Setting Free the Bears, was published in 1968, when he was twenty-six. 592 pages. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Plus, the reader only hears about it after the fact - it doesn't have any impact on the story. He's not exactly prolific so I look at a new Irving book as a special treat. I was quite disappointed in this book. Irving at his very finest! To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Once they leave Twisted River, however, the story seems to blow up in size, and in all different directions. In the beginning of the story, they are living in a logging and sawmill settlement in northern New Hampshire, and after an accidental killing, they leave abruptly, taking up residence in another state, and always waiting for the day to come that they'd have to flee again. © 1996-2021, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. “I like the part of this novel that is about a … Appreciators of intense, funny, heartfelt literature ; Irving fans will relish this action-packed tale father-and-son! I expected so much better than her but even coming in at average, Irving books... Be vaguely unsatisfying PUIFS XJUI IP not even among Irving 's 12th novel, Last Night in Twisted River John... 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