A Widow for One Year Mass Market Paperback – 27 November 2001

After The Cider House Rules, which I absolutely loved, I had high hopes for my next John Irving. Sadly, this one didn't do it. 'Widow...' seems a very, very autobiographical book, with a preoccupation with writers, their creative process and the relationships with their readers which quickly becomes tiresome. Every single main character is a writer - the father, the child, the mother, and her lover. When they're not writers, we have: a husband who's an editor, another husband who's read more books than anybody else alive (and the books of everybody in the novel), or another father who's a professor of literature. Oh please. And then, there is a rather distasteful, repetitive obsession with breasts which, for me, turned 'Widow..' into a caricature.And then there are numerous 'books within a book', from children's stories to a novel about murdered prostitutes, all awfully uninteresting stuff which got in the way of the proper novel, so I found myself skipping pages almost from the start. There are some gems hidden in all this mish-mash, some flashes of genius involving a deeply tragic story line, and I liked the part of the book which explored parental grief; that was nuanced and complex, done with sensitivity, and utterly convincing. Everything else, sorry to say, was neither entertaining nor particularly thought-provoking. The writing is OK, beautiful in places but marred by a stupid amount of words in italics - sometimes, 4-5 to the page. It really annoyed the life out of me, this and the far too many exclamation marks. I couldn't believe the amateurish editing.So my advice is, if you're new to John Irving don't start with this book, it'll probably put you off this writer and it would be a shame, because most of his other books are superb. The Cider House Rules

A Widow For One Year by John Irving.Simply dedicated `For Janet, a love story' this thumping great fat book covers the lives and loves of the Cole family, their friends and lovers over a period spanning nearly four decades. Satisfying in length and depth with delightful pointers as to what is to come, it is a properly absorbing grown up read. There is some deliciously dicey subject matter that takes you to the edge and beyond of what may be considered decent.John Irving writes his tale in three sections, Summer 1598, Fall 1990 and Fall 1995, neatly setting out his wares in 51 usefully and aptly named chapters, using a traditional rather child's book like format. Confidently moving from The Hampton's to Europe, we are safe in the hands of the most accomplished story teller. This writer treats his readers with respect, he certainly gives us our money's worth.Exploring the role and craft of writer, novelist, illustrator; we are parachuted into the complicated, post-disaster, fractured Cole family. Two sons have died in a dreadful accident. `The grief over lost children never dies; it is a grief that relents only a little. And then only a long while.' What a wise author. He successfully pulls off the unusual and intricate device of allowing his characters to speak to each other through their own published works - fleshing out the book with `warts and all' understanding descriptions of their humanly flawed and utterly credible personalities. This family are growing their shells over a tragedy to awful to bear without armour. They each have to rewrite their family history, building their litany of detail through constant repetition, always in their own personal way. They go 'missing' from each other and each grows differently, as you can immediately understand they must do.Eddie travels alongside this family through 37 years of loyal love, absences, growth and challenges. He is intensely believable - especially when he weakens and wavers he is wonderfully credible - you really feel you know him inside out. We meet him as a green teenager briefly escaping from his overbearing but loving parents. We leave him, in his mid fifties, in the perfectly written conclusion, experiencing a resolution that is as good as it gets.I loved the part when we are told about Harry, a later arrival, a policeman, and his reading life; `He read novels because he found in them the best descriptions of human nature. The novelists Harry favoured never suggested that even the worst human behaviour was alterable. They might morally disapprove of this or that character, but novelists were not world changers; they were just story tellers with better-than-average stories to tell, and the good ones told stories about believable characters'. If you too are like Harry you will so enjoy this book.The style and breadth of writing reminded me of Any Human HeartAny Human Heart by William Boyd, which grows a similar feeling of intimacy and care for the central individual. This book has more true love in it though.Having read `A Prayer for Owen Meany'A Prayer for Owen Meany previously, I was happy to read this book on the recommendation of a friend. Now I am pleased to see that there are several more John Irving works for me to enjoy in the future. Any Human HeartA Prayer for Owen Meany

John Irving does it again! He really has to be one of my favourite authors. A Widow for One year is again an excellent story of a dysfunctional family, but he takes each character and makes you feel that you know them so well. You just have to fall in love with each and every one of them!This book is primarily about Ruth Cole and Eddie O'Hare,and is in three parts, it starts in the summer of 1958 when Ruth is 4 and Eddie is 16, he comes to work for Ruth's father Ted as a writers assistant and falls in love with Ruths mother Marion, a love he will have for the rest of his life.Ruths mother walks out on her family that summer and Ruth does not see her again for 37 years! she is brought up by her philandering father, who does love her dearly and does the best he can.The next time we see Ruth she is a young unmarried woman who writes for a living. Her choice of men has been terrible so far and her books all reflect the fact. She has been damaged by her life so far, and you get the feeling that she is waiting for something.The final part of the book we meet Ruth as a woman recently widowed with a child. She has a successful career as a writer and travels around the world. She has an idea for an extraordinary book and this ultimately brings her the love and security she so richly deserves.I loved it and would recommend it along with every other thing that John Irving has written. You cannot help but get caught up in his characters

In the first part of the book, at 16 year old student visits a children's writer and his wife for a summer job and becomes engaged in their lives; in the second part a successful literary novelist tours a book, has trouble with her boyfriends and takes research in the red light district of Amsterdam a bit too far for comfort; in the final part, the course of true love finally runs smooth for each of them. Though in both cases the "falling in love" is very much of the "love at first sight" variety, so no exploration of psychological complexities there.This is a book about writers and writing, among other things. Ted Cole is a writer. Marion Cole is a writer. Ruth Cole is a writer. Ed O'Hare is a writer. And these are the four main characters. There's also a good deal of discussion of Norman Sherry's Life of Graham Greene in the second section of the book. I conclude that the life of writers is capable of being a great deal more interesting than I would have thought. The book is full of incident, the plot turns surprise, and it's a very satisfying experience to read. The reflections on what fiction is about are also rewarding.Much of the enjoyment comes from the quality of the narration. My one comment about that would be: that quality is the same throughout, whether we are reading a standard chapter in the novel, or a chapter in the "journeyman fiction" of Marion Cole, or indeed the "children's fiction" of Ted Cole. The "Modern Library of The World's Best Books" comes with an interesting introduction by the author about the first sentences of the 51 chapters of the novel. And a short biographical piece that makes clear that John Irving is married to his editor (as one character is at one point in the book). And a photo on the back cover of John Irving with an Amsterdam police officer - clearly on front-line research for his novel.

Have never read anything by John Irving before but gave this one a go as it was recommended on Stephen King's reading list in his book 'On Writing - a memoir of the craft.' It looked quite a weighty book, and I picked it up more as a sense of duty to the King, rather than because I liked the look of it. I was not disappointed though. From start to finish it took me on a path I did not expect to go down. The characters were rounded and believable; the plot so credible that I felt like it was actually happening to me, and a thoroughly satisfying ending. Highly recommended.

Quite enjoyable and flows but I couldn't stand the sordid middle section about the red light district of Amsterdam, just so horrible and as if he just wanted to shock and surprise by contrasting this miserable mess with the American scenes.

John Irving writes well! He keeps an engagement to the storyline with a certain type of descriptiveness that gives clarity to circumstances, without it being repetitive or tiresome. It was our ‘book club’ choice, which held good favour with all club members,promoting interesting debate.

Did not enjoy this as much as his other books.

Brilliant

From start to finish this book had me hooked. It's been many years since I last read an Irving novel, time wasted

I had the impression the whole story was made up by a teen girl, it was so unrealistic and cringe-worthy. Shame as I really liked other Irving's books.

Beautiful story and, as usual, beautifully told by John Irving.

This is another 500 page John Irving novel which would be loved by John Irving fans. His dry sense of humour and the hilarious (though sometimes sad) plot is always entertaining. And it has a happy ending.

"Garp" hat mich absolut fasziniert, aber für "Widow for One Year" hege ich gemischte Gefühle. Nur wenige Teile der langen, elaborierten und detailreichen Handlung haben mich mitgerissen, so z.B. Ruths Erfahrungen mit ihrem letzten schlimmen Freund und auch Ruths Erlebnisse im Rotlichtviertel von Amsterdam. Alles andere zog sich wie ein Kaugummi. Wie immer bei John Irving ist der Plot arg überstrapaziert, aber das hätte ich gerne in Kauf genommen, wenn es nicht so viele langatmige Passagen gegeben hätte. Das lächerliche Happy End für alle fand ich dann nur noch unglaubwürdig und eines guten Romanciers unwürdig. 2 Sterne.PS: Das Hörbuch im Original ist gut gelesen von George Guidall, aber in der ungekürzten Fassung stechen die Längen des Romans umso deutlicher hervor. Schade.

I've read this book already and loved it so much I decided to buy it for a friend. The story is capturing and very Irving-like - a rollercoaster of a reading. The book arrived to me in a great shape, like new - the only problem I had with it is that the cover art was different than the one pictured on Amazon listing. Apart from that, all great.