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What are readers saying about Last Night in Twisted River: A Novel?
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-12-31 11:34:24.
(Language: English)
 
Irving answered all my questions about his writing style and purposes for some of the more graphic and recurring themes in his novels. It is not his best novel as he is clearly providing his writing notes for future novelists and not worrying about the story itself. I wish he had done like Stephen King and made it a book about writing rather than a novel encompassing his style.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-12-27 09:28:04.
(Language: English)
To the people who complain that Mr. Irving repeats himself, of course he does...sometimes. He does it well, and for a reason. This man is a seriously fine writer. Perhaps you should try something lighter. They have lots of brightly covered trivia in the best seller section of your public library.
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Mike posted a review at 2009-12-03 08:39:35.
(Language: English)
Oh dear - what a shame! John Irvine I always found so reliable, but this is so poor! The book is hundreds of pages too long - I just wonder if editors are too timid to tell the truth to someone of his reputation and eminence. The writer wants it to be an epic family saga but so much is unlikely or two dimensional or just tediously drawn out. From favourite writer to someone I will avoid in one book. Sad. I was so pleased with it as a carefully chosen, thoughtful present too!
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Jay posted a review at 2010-03-21 03:50:36.
(Language: English)
This is only my second Irving novel (after Water-Method Man) but I will be sure to read more. I was surprised to find that the book was only about 2/3 done when I thought he had reached the end. It kept going. That was my only problem with it - it went on too long and it got bogged down in politics out of the blue. I really enjoyed the character Ketchum. I listened to the unabridged audio of this, the narrator did an excellent job with Ketchum's voice, I can just picture him walking out of the local bar.
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Mary posted a review at 2009-12-17 02:34:11.
(Language: English)
This book sets Irving off in a new direction: the characters are quirky as one might expect from Irving, and yet, they aren't outrageous and, for the most part total nuts. Even the nuttiest character is full of wise thoughts. I don't like to review plot and give things away. But I will insist on saying this is a remarkable achievement, with settings and characters that will stay with me a long, long time. Although typically existential, as Gardner's books are, one event will wind up affecting many characters and also the story, sort of like breaking the balls in pool: one shot moves everything else. It's long, well-written, and worth the time to enjoy. For the first time I can remember, Irving takes us into Canada, where he spends some of the year. A fabulous read, but I liked the coincidence that I read the book during winter, and appreciated the winter Canadian scenes all the more.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-03-15 09:41:35.
(Language: English)
While not one of John Irving's best, I found most of it enjoyable. It definitely got off to a slow start and fizzled out toward the end, but kept my interest. Very self-indulgent, too. The more you read about John Irving's personal life, the more obvious it becomes.
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Melissa posted a review at 2010-05-22 11:44:11.
(Language: English)
As always with Irving, filled with unforgettable, quirky characters. I don't know quite how he does it, creating these characters, but they really live with you outside the pages of the book. Some unforgettable images and scenes, also always Irving's strength. Lots of other great things about this book, but in terms of forward momentum, storytelling drive, and other aspects of the writing craft, it didn't totally do it for me. The story didn't inspire me to keep reading, just the characters. Not his best, but worth it nonetheless.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-10-17 05:59:27.
(Language: English)
Loved it! I guess I need to admit I am a John Irving fan now, I didn't realize that until I was part way through this one.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-04-10 04:12:24.
(Language: English)
Great read as expected. Cookie is almost as warm as character as Dr Larch and his son as good as Homer so if you liked Cider House Rules you will like this. More drawn out than expected (in a good way) which gives great depth to all male characters, although the female characters are all a bit too submissive to be completely believable. Would definitely recommend.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-09-19 10:08:47.
(Language: English)
Really good read. Classic Irving with giving the detail of his characters so you get to know them well.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-04-14 12:49:05.
(Language: English)
Terrible! Got 30 pages in and gave up. The writing is atrocious. How many dashes can you use on one page? I counted seven! And the words in bold face? Is that some kind of wierd code? It took me a long time to get past the all caps in Owen Meany, but at least the rest of the book was worth it. This one isn't worth your time.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-03-22 10:58:26.
(Language: English)
wow, this one was hard to get through. Finally picked up the pace towards the end which was "ended" up being really good. The last page being so cool and interesting that you want to go back and want to start the book all over. A sweet lonesome story that meanders through the its tale like its being written as you read it. Then you realize that there was a plan and course the whole time when you get to the end.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-04-14 03:49:11.
(Language: English)
Not Irving's best but some good moments. Familiar themes for Irving: art imitates life imitates art; father hood; the nature of and transient power of names. A few of the grotesque characters (in a Dickensian sense) that Irving is noted for. Bears. echoes of previous works--Garp, A Widow for One Year, the Fourth Hand. Great characters (Ketchum is a great Irving creation) and a plot that propels itself right up until the last, say, one-fifth of the book. Then, Irving rants about politics through the media of Danny and Ketchum. Uh, a backwoods libertine logger is probably not going to have political views akin to those of a Hollywood Liberal like George Clooney or, dare I say it, John Irving. The last part of the book becomes a non sequitur. I wish Irving had a more forceful editor here. Still, if you like Irving (and I do), read it.
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Tim posted a review at 2010-02-12 09:30:46.
(Language: English)
Has Irving ever been good writer (I remember liking 158 Pound Marriage) or is this just a thirty-year conspiracy by Random House to mask crap as serious literature. The novel, which is about a writer no less, and filled with Irving's trite tidbits on the craft, is not even first semester workshop quality it is so raggedly written. Populated with flat, under developed characters, didactic wanderings, confused ramblings of "telling way to much and showing nothing," and a wobbly plot, the book is merely a pure testament to a person that is able to sit down and tank though 500-typed pages (on an old IBM to keep it truly "literary"). Even when Updike was bad his writing carried the day. This guy just stinks. However, the spine of the story is worthy, unfortunately Gordon Lish isn't around to flesh it out for Irving.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-02-15 07:43:36.
(Language: English)
Though still obviously and completely and wonderfully Irving, this latest book is clearly a more mature work by a more mature man, distinct from the early "Water Method Man" I just read. That is not all good: the farce is understated, the humor is controlled and rare, as is the outrageousness in general. The prose is consistently staid and purposefully unfascinating. But then it is more serious, more of a piece, and more meaningful. A real family epic, it covers half a century in the growth and life of a novelist, said life overflowing with family tragedies Yet the ending is reasonably upbeat, somewhat to my surprise -- yes, he's still wonderfully surprising. The action starts in a northern New Hampshire logging camp, specifically the cookhouse, around the cook and his son, later to be the writer. Yes, there are bears, though very little wrestling. And lots of food and cooking. The plot is driven by a sexual betrayal, and a multi-decade flight to avoid retribution. In the background, prominent, is a prolonged discourse on the relationship of real life to the fictions produced by the novelist. Yes, it turns into a book about writing itself, a bit trite nowadays, but still quite successful. The typical overlapping time frames Irving uses become reminiscences being reworked into fiction. Frankly it reminded me not a little of Proust, though the main, important thing about Proust, the prose, was entirely absent. Excerpts: The cook repeatedly dreamed that he was murdered in his sleep -- shot to death in his own bed -- and whenever he woke from that dream, the sound of the shot was still ringing in his ears. So Dominic Baciagalupo slept with a skillet in his bedroom. There were cast-iron skillets of all sizes in the cookhouse kitchen, but the eight-inch size was preferable for self-defense. The skydiver's breasts were the first giveaway. --"It's a lady," little Joe said. --"Yes, it is," his father replied. --"What happened to her clothes?" Joe asked. Now everyone was watching, even the pigs. Danny hadn't noticed when the pigs began to be aware of the parachutist, but they were aware of her now. They must not have been used to flying people dropping down on them - or used to the giant descending parachute, which now cast a shadow over the pigpen. --"Lady Sky!" Joe screamed, pointing up at the naked skydiver. In the media, real life was more important than fiction; those elements of a novel that were, at least, based on personal experience were of more interest to the general public than those pieces of the novel-writing process that were "merely" made up. In any work of fiction, weren't those things that had really happened to the writer -- or, perhaps, to someone the writer had intimately known -- more authentic, more verifiably true, than anything that anyone could imagine?
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Sharon posted a review at 2010-07-25 01:23:49.
(Language: English)
You either like John Irving or you don't. I love John Irving, and I loved this book. He drew me in slowly, but then I was hooked. The book may seem familiar to his readers - his leitmotifs of loss, New England, and of course bears are ever-present, and sometimes you might feel like you have read this before. But his characters and their stories are engrossing, and, because it is an Irving novel, they break your heart.
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Dan posted a review at 2009-11-07 10:08:23.
(Language: English)
Another fantastic, sprawling novel from John Irving - his first I've had the pleasure to read immediately in hardback, the very day it came out. Frankly, I hate reviews that give away plot points and basically act as spoilers for novels that are such a joy to read unburdened by any preconceptions, so all I shall say is that this is a wonderfully written tale full of rich and inventive characters, that should hopefully become as big a classic as any of his other famous works. One such character, without giving anything away story-wise, is the writer Kurt Vonnegut; a nod to their real-life friendship and touching tribute to the man who hated semi-colons so very, very much. Sadly, Vonnegut is no longer with us, but Irving - and his many semi-colons - happily is, and on the basis of this book, he is only getting better with age.
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Mark posted a review at 2010-04-04 01:09:04.
(Language: English)
If you're a John Irving fan -- and I am -- this is a must-read. The author is in top form, spinning a story that is engaging and enjoyable. He doesn't break any new ground -- in fact, he treads over a lot of places he's been before, and there are many of his signature elements (bears, quirky deaths, an easy sexuality) -- but that doesn't matter. It's still a great story and he tells it with the ease of a master comfortable in his own skin. You know immediately that you're in good hands, which makes the entire book a delight. And, like the best of Irving's books, it packs an emotional wallop when you least expect it. My only complaint is that he gets a little too cute with the parallels between Danny the writer and himself. At times I found it annoying and a few other times it threatened to derail the story, but again, not enough to diminish the delight in reading the book. I think it's well worth the read.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-12-25 09:10:25.
(Language: English)
I really wanted to like this book. And indeed, the first hundred pages are simply magical--the north woods, the cook, his son, the loggers, the icy river, the story of a bear's entering a kitchen--a novella within a novel. But promising characters quickly shift into cartoons and Irving's over-wrought themes on sexuality and death start to make me think (more than a few times) "Haven't we been down this road before?" By the time the "dramatic" ending arrives, I just want it to end. The writer however, has other plans. Unfulfilling, to say the least. I won't be fooled again.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-12-27 12:28:52.
(Language: English)
Has some adult content and language, but I really enjoyed it. John Irving writes in a way that you really do feel like you're being told a story - one on one. The characters are vivid and varied. It's the kind of book that you think about even when you're not reading it and there are more than a few 'ah hah' moments when there is a slight twist or revelation in the story. It got a little too political towards the end for me, as we got into current events, but it was beautiful how all the lose ends got tied up and there was a "just wait and see" feel to the book that I found very realistic. All in all, John Irving is an incredible writer.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-01-17 01:50:32.
(Language: English)
As far as John Irving books go, this is typical of his style. I love his novels but this wouldn't be my favourite. It has all the elements of the John Irving that I like: many characters, often well-defined - with a few words he paints a picture. Some of the characters are absolutely unforgettable, like Injun Jane, Sixpack Pam, the Italians...but I felt that his main character, the writer, was a little elusive. I think the writer (Danny) was based on himself - Irving often has writers in his stories and he quietly pokes fun at their trade - mocking them for tryong to use too many adjectives, etc. However, that is possibly why Danny is a bit elusive - Irving is not revealing too much about himself. The fact that Danny also writes about the characters he knows yet twists the events, is a dig at Irving himself no doubt - writers do draw on what and who they know. Then deny the characters are based on real people. For John Irving fans - do read this. But my favourite is still "Hotel New Hampshire".
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-01-26 07:15:57.
(Language: English)
I think Mr. Irving lost it a bit on this one. It started so richly and well in Twisted River. Then basically it go too rambling. I think he was trying a few too many literary tricks with plot and timing. Not a great book to read in pieces - it only adds to the confusion. Great characters and lots happened, but it wasn't his tightest effort.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-11-27 08:11:04.
(Language: English)
I can't help myself - I love getting sucked into John Irving's novels, and his latest is no exception. He has added firearms, hunting and cooking to his staples of wrestling, squash, and writing, and the mix is good. Strangely, Irving's obsession with sexual peccadilloes is mostly lacking, which is good, because I found it somewhat distracting in his other works. I particularly enjoyed his authentic descriptions of Boston's North End. As Irving himself says, you know what is going to happen in the end, so the pleasure is in the journey, which has so much realism that you really do believe it happened, in spite of some of the outsized characters. The downside to his latest work is that the humor of his other books, such as Hotel New Hampshire and Until I Find You, seems to be missing. Last Night isn't a dry read by any means, but it is not uproariously hilarious like some of his other novels. This doesn't detract from the novel, but I was a little let down to find this missing.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-06-27 10:54:34.
(Language: English)
It was by John Irving so I had to read it. Unfortunately this was the first one of his I've ever put down in the middle of a paragraph. While the story is fine the problem with this is it seems to be vintage Irving and he rubs it in your face by making a character a writer who has written books pretty much of the Irving catalogue. I wonder if there was some purposeful cream pie in the face here. It took me a couple of months instead of a couple of days to get through this one because it just didn't draw me in. I can't be all negative though, he still strings words together like no one else can.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-04-30 07:40:47.
(Language: English)
Another great Irving novel! Last NIght has many quirky characters, loved Ketchum! And, of course, Exeter is involved in the story. : ) I thought that overall the storyline was a little depressing. Every bad thing that you hoped would not happen to these characters does happen. The ending was a bit corny but at least it leaves you feeling happy about Daniel's future. I felt like Irving shared a bit of himself in the political rantings and also in describing how to write a novel. Very interesting and a great read!
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| Reviews of Last Night in Twisted River: A Novel - Page 1 of 3 |
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