Helpful Score: 4
I liked this John Irving book the best with Garp a close second. He is my favorite author and I was very pleased with this book. Anyone who has not read Irving may like this book as a first read as the characters and story are well developed and not as quirky as others he writes about (not that quirky is a bad thing).
Helpful Score: 3
After my hungry consumption of the "The World According to Garp" I was anxious to read this but also worried that it wouldn't live up to my high hopes. I had nothing to fear, however. Like Garp, the novel follows a single person, yet many of the supporting characters have richly developed backgrounds of their own that spring off into short stories sometimes. While it may sound distracting, it lends a completeness to the book that one doesn't often find elsewhere.
We start with four-year old Ruth Cole, whose parent's marriage is fractured, to say the least. Haunted by the death of their two teenaged sons years earlier, both her mother and father have coped in vastly differnt ways. When her father hires an assistant for the summer, his presence leads to an event that will forever change the course of Ruth's life. From there we follow Ruth throughout her young adulthood and into middle-age, weaving a very differnt tale, yet still bringing in the characters from the past.
A great read that I highly recommend!
We start with four-year old Ruth Cole, whose parent's marriage is fractured, to say the least. Haunted by the death of their two teenaged sons years earlier, both her mother and father have coped in vastly differnt ways. When her father hires an assistant for the summer, his presence leads to an event that will forever change the course of Ruth's life. From there we follow Ruth throughout her young adulthood and into middle-age, weaving a very differnt tale, yet still bringing in the characters from the past.
A great read that I highly recommend!
Helpful Score: 3
Not one of my favorite Irving works. The characters felt weak to me in this one, something that I don't generally see in his other books. There really wasn't anyone to root for as far as I could tell.
Helpful Score: 3
I enjoyed this book, it is a long book at times it felt long, it did drag a bit a few places, but it was an entertaining read. I like John Irving's style of writing, he truly brings places and people to life, the quirks were different and made the book very interesting. I would recommend this book.
Helpful Score: 1
If you're a John Irving fan, you'll like this one. Innocent young man becomes pawn in troubled marriage. Some loves do last.
Helpful Score: 1
Broke my heart, made me hate the self-indulgent parents at the same time I felt sympathy for them. I still don't know how I feel about it.
Helpful Score: 1
If you liked the movie Door in the floor..u will love that book!!! He is my favorite
Helpful Score: 1
It was good until somewhere in the middle. Then it started to get boring.
Helpful Score: 1
My second Irving book - I LOVED Cider House (didn't see the movie) and picked up this one in hopes I would love it just as much . . . not the case. It really seemed to drag, and could have been about 250 pages instead of 592. Also, the ending did not seem believeable to me at all. I will still try one more of his books, though - just not sure which one yet.
Helpful Score: 1
This tale spans 37 yrs. in the life of Ruth Cole and the people around her. A moving, lusty and tragic story. Made into a movie starring Jeff Bridges.
Helpful Score: 1
SOO much better than the movie. If you saw the movie and wonder what happened with Ruth, the little girl, you have got to read this book.
Helpful Score: 1
Just not for me - but I had to finish it, just the same, in case I might end up liking it.
Helpful Score: 1
A great story... not so great movie... great real life characters... awesome
Helpful Score: 1
While it is no World According to Garp, this is classic John Irving. Irving studies human nature so well, has such rich narrative, and makes you want to follow his characters everywhere.
Helpful Score: 1
Greatly acclaimed by both critics and readers, this sprawling book filled with Irving's usual array of quirky characters, spans 37 years in the life of Ruth Cole, the daughter of a 'lecherous Long Island children's book author.'
Helpful Score: 1
This was my first Irving book. Loved it! It got a little slow about 3/4 of the way through, but I trudged through and am glad I did.
This book was really hard to get into. Did not care for it at all.
a great read; fabulous characters who draw you into their lives in a seamless tale of family, connections and relationships
Maybe I wasn't in the mood for John Irving, so it's my fault, but when the first hundred pages had boarding school, dead kids, New England, major characters who happen to be authors, and smatterings of German, I spent the rest of the book waiting for a bear to ride through the door on a motorcycle.
It's almost like a self-parody, this book. He tries a female protagonist this time 'round, but that "woman" struck me as John Irving in drag - her competitive machismo is in full force as she builds up her squash game, practicing all day, icing her shoulder, and impressing every person who sees her with how strong her right arm is. She even beats a guy up at one point.
Anyway, the last 150 pages really picked up and bumped it up from 2 stars to 3, for me.
And I realize that no matter how much I make fun of John Irving's stock elements, I keep reading him.
It's almost like a self-parody, this book. He tries a female protagonist this time 'round, but that "woman" struck me as John Irving in drag - her competitive machismo is in full force as she builds up her squash game, practicing all day, icing her shoulder, and impressing every person who sees her with how strong her right arm is. She even beats a guy up at one point.
Anyway, the last 150 pages really picked up and bumped it up from 2 stars to 3, for me.
And I realize that no matter how much I make fun of John Irving's stock elements, I keep reading him.
An interesting story with great characters. The best concept was the 40 year old undying love that Eddie feels.
I was not happy with the ending. It seemed to be a very simple (and way too easy) conclusion to a complicated story. I would, however, like to see the movie now. :)
I was not happy with the ending. It seemed to be a very simple (and way too easy) conclusion to a complicated story. I would, however, like to see the movie now. :)
As Always, John Irving provides us with a slighlty scewed outlook on life.
A Widow for One Year is a complex story, but boils down to two following two authors from youth to middle age in their search for happiness, love, and closure. This is complicated by a woman (mother to one, lover to the other) who fled her family, leaving behind two people to push through their sadness to find a place of contentment. The novel is well written, and the story is good. However, the book could have used some editing. A Widow for One Year - 100 pages would've been an excellent book.
Thirty-seven years in the life of Ruth Cole and the people around her.
Deeply Affecting
this book is funny and well done.
A terrific yarn that runs in many directions.
Another good novel for John Irving fans.
Very good book. First Irving I have actually read.
really good read
I enjoyed this book. It takes a while to get into, but then the ending goes too fast.
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 unabridged audiobook, narrated by George Guidall (The Cat Who Sang for the Birds, The Inner Sanctum, The Legacy) draws the listener in with a crisp, methodical vocal presentation. Guidall portrays each character with a convincingly distinct voice, accurately impersonating the characters' intonations and verbal habits. The interaction between characters is both conversational and believable.
We first meet Ruth Cole in the summer of 1958 when she walks in on her mother having sex with 16-year-old Eddie O'Hare, the assistant to Ruth's alcoholic father. The death of Ruth's older brothers (years before she was born) turns her mother, Marion, into a zombie who is unable to love her surviving daughter. Ted Cole is a semisuccessful writer and illustrator of disturbingly creepy children's novels. His womanizing habits prove he's "as deceitful as a damaged condom," but he remains the only stable figure in Ruth's life. The tempestuous tale fast-forwards to the year 1990 when Ruth's soaring writing career is faring far better than her lackluster love life. The final segment of the novel ends in 1995 when 41-year-old Ruth is ready to fall in love for the first time.
We first meet Ruth Cole in the summer of 1958 when she walks in on her mother having sex with 16-year-old Eddie O'Hare, the assistant to Ruth's alcoholic father. The death of Ruth's older brothers (years before she was born) turns her mother, Marion, into a zombie who is unable to love her surviving daughter. Ted Cole is a semisuccessful writer and illustrator of disturbingly creepy children's novels. His womanizing habits prove he's "as deceitful as a damaged condom," but he remains the only stable figure in Ruth's life. The tempestuous tale fast-forwards to the year 1990 when Ruth's soaring writing career is faring far better than her lackluster love life. The final segment of the novel ends in 1995 when 41-year-old Ruth is ready to fall in love for the first time.
An interesting read. Better than the movie.
This is the full, unabridged version and has 14 cassettes! This is the book upon which THE DOOR ON THE FLOOR is based
Although John Irving is one of my all time favorite authors, I just couldnt get into this book.
If you saw the movie a couple of years ago called "The Door in the Floor" this is the book that inspired it and this wonderfully long, engrossing novel te story of Ruth Cole, her father, Ted Cole, her mother Marion Cole, precious Eddy and the impact of the deaths of her two brothers have on her family as they muck their way through life. One of John Irving's best, in my opinion.
GREAT book -- keeps your attention on every page.
"Deeply affecting...The pleasures of this rich and beautiful book are manifold. To be human is to savor them." Los Angeles Times Book Review
"A powerful tale to add to an already extraordinary body of work from a great American writer." -- Richmond Times-Dispatch
This book was immensely enjoyable and absorbing. I was sorry when it ended and yet very satisfied. Paul C.
"A powerful tale to add to an already extraordinary body of work from a great American writer." -- Richmond Times-Dispatch
This book was immensely enjoyable and absorbing. I was sorry when it ended and yet very satisfied. Paul C.
"A sprawling, complex famly history, 'A Widow for One Year' will appeal to readers who like old-fashioned story telling mixed with modern sensitivities. Wisely and carefully crafted, it's a novel about grief, the kind that lingers, and bout families, the ones we're born into and ones we make for ourselves. Irving is among the few novelists who can write a novel about grief and fill it with ribald humor soaked in irony." - USA Today
I loved this book. The first half of the book was made into a movie with Kim Basinger and Jeff Bridges called Door in the Floor. The 2nd half of the book is a continuation in later years. A very good read.
Not the best that Irving has to offer. It did a terrific job of following Ruth throughout her lifetime, but the story was not compelling.
A really terrific novel from the American Dickens! A thoroughly enjoyable read with compelling characters and a great storyline.
Great Irving novel. Almost feels like an epic.
I'm generally a big fan of John Irving, but this is my least favourite of his titles. Then again, I really liked both 'A Prayer for Owen Meany' and 'Hotel New Hampshire' which many of his fans don't, so take that how you will.
heartrenching, from a great author!
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 unabridged audiobook, narrated by George Guidall (The Cat Who Sang for the Birds, The Inner Sanctum, The Legacy) draws the listener in with a crisp, methodical vocal presentation. Guidall portrays each character with a convincingly distinct voice, accurately impersonating the characters' intonations and verbal habits. The interaction between characters is both conversational and believable.
Not Irving's best, but certainly a terrific read. Funny and disturbing. Irving is one of my favorite contemporary authors.
Amazing tale sweeping the entire life of a children's book author and his daughter who grows to become an author herself. Drama, murder, true life feel. The first section is the basis of the movie by the same title. Irving at his finest.
"Compelling. . . John Irving is at the peak of his considerable powers in A Widow for One Year, his most intricate and fully imagined novel. . . . Irving's narrative spans 37 years in the life of Ruth Cole and the people around her. . . . By turns antic and moving, lusty and tragic [this novel] is bursting with memorable moments." - San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle
I never got past the 100th page
John Irving writes interestingtales of quirky, dysfunctional but realistic people and families who are both ensnared and enriched by their own foibles.
I have read John Irving several times and realize he just doesn't capture me. More of a style issue than quality of writing. It is a #1 NY Times Best Seller and NY Times Notable Book. Includes a Readers Guide in the back for personal or book group use.
Really a compelling read. Funny and sad, you will love it.
Okay book. Pacing is a little off at times.
A great read for Irving fans
A complex family History of old-fashioned storytelling.
The author has a strange mind...
Some how this is the first John Irving book that I have read and I loved it. His ability to develop characters and story lines is amazing. The characters stayed with me for days after I finished the book.
I am a John Irving fan so I am a little prejudiced. However, I love his characters and the detail he puts into a book.
My book has a different cover from the picture here.
Not as good as Garp, but pretty good.
Classic Irving, but not as good as "A Prayer for Owen Meany".
By the same author of The World According to Garp and is on a lot of current book club reading lists.
Little to much sex involved in this book for my taste, but a good story.
Another great story from Irving!
Good read!
great read
Perfect John Irving. Right up there with Garp and Owen Meany. You'll love it.
One of my fav authors, one of my favorite books of his.
It's amazing how well Irving writes, this is one of my favorites!
Very much enjoyed this novel by a great American writer.
I read this awhile back. It is a pretty good book especially on a lazy day.
This writer is a twisted dude. The best part is the dog turd lacrosse.
Better than being poked in the eye with a sharp stick, but not by much! Tedious and overlong.
Did not hold my interest
classic......
Also registered on bookcrossing.
"Ruth Cole is a complex, often self-contradictory character--a 'difficult' woman. By no means is she conventionally "nice," but she will never be forgotten.
Ruth's story is told in three parts, each focusing on a crucial time in her life. When we first meet her--on Long Island, in the summer of 1958--Ruth is only four.
The second window into Ruth's life opens in the fall of 1990, when Ruth is an unmarried woman whose personal life is not nearly as successful as her literary career. She distrusts her judgment in men, for good reason.
A Widow for One Year closes in the autumn of 1995, when Ruth Cole is a forty-one-year-old widow and mother. She's about to fall in love for the first time.
Richly comic, as well as deeply disturbing A Widow for One Year is a multilayered love story of astonishing emotional force. Both ribald and erotic, it is also a brilliant novel about the passage of time and the relentlessness of grief."
"Ruth Cole is a complex, often self-contradictory character--a 'difficult' woman. By no means is she conventionally "nice," but she will never be forgotten.
Ruth's story is told in three parts, each focusing on a crucial time in her life. When we first meet her--on Long Island, in the summer of 1958--Ruth is only four.
The second window into Ruth's life opens in the fall of 1990, when Ruth is an unmarried woman whose personal life is not nearly as successful as her literary career. She distrusts her judgment in men, for good reason.
A Widow for One Year closes in the autumn of 1995, when Ruth Cole is a forty-one-year-old widow and mother. She's about to fall in love for the first time.
Richly comic, as well as deeply disturbing A Widow for One Year is a multilayered love story of astonishing emotional force. Both ribald and erotic, it is also a brilliant novel about the passage of time and the relentlessness of grief."
