A Widow for One Year

A Widow For One Year is one of Irving's best books so far. It's impossible to put down once you begin reading it. Beautifully written, it's also rich with fascinating female characters so well drawn that I found myself wondering how a man could have written it. The male characters in the book are equally interesting, but they're not the centerpiece of the book. Irving sees the light side of tragedy and the dark side of comedy. He shows here the chain of abuse, abandonment, and the reverberating effects that parents' neuroses have, not only on their children, but on all who love them. Like many of Irving's best books, A Widow For One Year is filled with his wonderful trademark brand of humor that tempers the deep dark emotions his story stirs in the reader. His brilliantly funny, odd, and ironic coincidences and juxtapositions of characters keep one laughing through the tears. Irving delves into the seamiest sides of the lives of practically all of the characters in this book, which takes the reader on an enthralling and dangerous ride! A Widow For One Year seems at first to be a study of the phenomenon of exponential neurosis, but by the end of the story, one realizes it's more about the importance of casting away the demons of your past and not allowing them to haunt and control the rest of your life. The moral of the story is that no matter how terrible the hand you've been dealt in life, you are the master, or in this case, the mistress of your own destiny and happiness. In the end, one is left with a wonderfully warm regard for most of the characters, and a satisfying, "they got what they deserved," for the rest! John Irving has created a brilliant work of art with A Widow For One Year! ...

Widow for One Year plumbs the depths of misery that bubbled to the surface in one on-the-surface successful family after the deaths of the two oldest children in a car accident. Ruth Cole, the surviving child who never knew her lustrous and immortalized brothers, is kind of the main character (among many), but lots of the book is told by Eddie O'Hare, a summer helper of Ruth's author father. Everybody is screwed up: Marion, the mom, exists in a zombie state and is unable to love Ruth - or anyone else. Ted, the father, is alcoholic and faltering in his career of writing creepy novels for kids. Ruth can't sustain a loving relationship. WFOY begins in 1958 and doesn't conclude till 1995, when Ruth, perhaps, embarks on a kind of loving healing.This book qualifies to be called an epic. Wonderful - and I'm not always a fan of Irving's books.

A Widow for One Year has got to be my favorite John Irving novel. Many of his others, while I have enjoyed them, have put me off a little because the characters and/or the plot is a bit over the top, just too quirky for me. Widow, while imaginative and entertaining, never gets to that too much stage. It's a big novel, spanning about 40 years and has a satisfying, yet never hokey or corny ending. The characters, of course, are a bit quirky in their way, but their quirkiness is somehow more believable than in other Irving novels. The story is a lot of fun, and, because most of the characters are writers, allows Irving to explain and comment on the writing process. I felt at some times he was answering his own critics while discussing the criticism of his character-writers. He has fun with the whole thing, though, and never takes it too seriously, which is part of what makes this novel so enjoyable. Widow is really a human story about loss and how far some of us will go for love. Enjoy.

This is the 2nd Irving novel I have read (next to Cider House Rules which I loved so much) & I have to say I like this even better. Maybe because I could empathize more with the female character of both Ruth & her estranged mother, Marion. It breaks my heart to think how difficult it would have been for a 4 yr.old child to grow in a house with a family which has ceased to be one, long before she was born; & to live in the shadows of her dead brothers, living in the world of photographs - reliving each day their happy moments (which she never had) & memorizing the stories behind each picture by heart. I also find it would have been incomprehensible for such a young mind to be abandoned by her mother. & being a mother myself, I couldn't imagine how excruciatingly painful it was for Marion to lose both sons in an accident & live with its grief for the rest of your life. I commend John Irving for the very detailed storytelling he has done - once again. The details shown on each page transported me to Ruth's world & enabled me to join her continous pursuit for her own survival & happiness & her observance & sometimes involuntary witness of other people's search for their own happiness.True, as Ted Cole had once said, life's test is that sometimes, there's no place to pull over --- sometimes you can't stop --- & you just have to find a way to keep going.

I loved this book! A Widow For One Year is a story of a group of writers whose lives are intertwined through love affairs, friendships, and kinship. The fact that the characters are writers is a key component of the novel and the aspect that I enjoyed most. Irving takes the reader on a literary joy ride with characters and situations that are believable and exciting. He tells this story using a multi-voiced approach and he is able to change voice without any interruption to the story. At times he's narrative and at times he's providing information about the characters or plot though a work of fiction written by one the characters. Technically speaking, the book is written as perfectly as humanly possible (no doubt a Writing Fiction course could be taught with this novel as a guide) As a reader, the novel is extremely engaging; (no I didn't want to put it down). As a writer, the novel is informative and demonstrative (literally) of how good fiction is created. I'm certain that I'll be a better writer as a result of reading this book and unfortunately, for some authors, I'll be a lot more critical as a reader as well.