It's hard for me to judge John Irving's books because I always hold them up against A Prayer for Owen Meany. That was the first book of his I read and, though some others have come close, it was the best.

This might be 5 stars if it was another author but for Irving it gets 4. The reason for deducting one is that I twice lost interest: once when it went on and on and on about Ruth thinking about her new novel and the last twenty pages when I was just wanting the book to be done already (537 pages). I also did not care at all for her relationships with Allan or Harry. That stuff was tedious and I didn't understand her reasons for marrying Allan.

However, A Prayer for Owen Meany was 100 pages longer and I didn't want that one to end. Those 637 pages weren't enough. This one though, I would have preferred a good 100 pages shorter.

There's a lot to love about this novel too though, at least for Irving's fans. He's a bit too verbose for some readers but I love how he pulls me into his stories and makes his characters so real.

I was surprised to read a review complaining that he can't write female characters. I thought Ruth in this novel was very believable and authentic, as were the side character women, like her mother Marion.

We readers all have different experiences with books though; none of us ever read the same one. For me, Irving is a master storyteller who creates fully fleshed out characters, no matter their gender.

A Widow for One Year is about books and about authors and about their ideas and inspiration. The story begins with Ruth's parents whose sons died in a car accident before Ruth was born.

By the time Ruth comes along, her mother is unable or unwilling to love another child and her father buries his pain in seducing and then shaming other women.

Ruth's childhood is made up of stories of her brothers and stories her father, a children's book author, invents.

It is a book as much about her parents as about Ruth - it follows all of them throughout their lives.

Occasionally the feeling stuff got to me, forcing my eyes to exercise as they rolled their way up into my skull and back down again (regular readers of my reviews might recall how an evil-spirited wizard turned my heart into a block of ice). But overall, I enjoyed this novel.

The first half is Irving at his best. All those hooks on the wall. All that broken glass and all those windblown sketches. All that honesty amid all that posturing. All that clunky sex amid endless guilt.

The second half embodies the detachment, the absurdity, the too-many-ideas-at-once that the main characters have grown to embrace. Perhaps they are defense mechanisms. Perhaps they are the inevitable scars of emotional abuse. Marion is so matter-of-fact about her fate, so resigned to a life that will never bring closure, and she drags everyone along with her toward this anti-conclusion. It's unsettling. But what could we expect? Is widowhood, is the death of one's children, is witnessing a murder supposed to be anything besides unsettling?

The story is frustrating, but I'm overcome with the sensation that Irving knew exactly what he was doing all along. Frustration is a bold goal to set for oneself, but I can't imagine Irving any other way but bold. It's as ingrained in his writing as the New England landscape.

And the novel's jarring last line rivals Angela's Ashes for Most Impressive Last Line Ever.

When I think about a book written by John Irving, the picture that comes to mind is a vine; a vine that weaves within itself and spreads thick in it’s own mass. This is the 3rd Irving book I have read. Irving uses some of the same themes in his many novels. Boarding schools, younger men with older women are some that immediately come to mind. This particular book is about a family that lives in The Hamptons. The father, Ted is an author of children’s books. The wife, Marion, is also an author but she does not begin her career as a writer until later on in life. The family is ripped apart when a car accident kills their 2 sons. They have a daughter, Ruth, after the accident in an attempt to bring their family back together. When Ruth is 4, Ted hires a student, Eddie, to help him with his writing for the summer. At least, that is what he says. The book is split into 3 parts and covers almost 40 years. Irving takes these 4 characters and begins weaving his plot in such articulate detail, it hovers on the line of genius. After reading these books, I always feel like I missed the true meaning of the story and feel obligated to read it again. I did enjoy this novel, however, I felt overwhelmed on occasion in parts that dragged. I lost patience at times. This still does not take away from my respect for this writer who I think is one of the best in the business.

This book was slightly disappointing, despite how interesting the plot was. The main character, Ruth, seemed like half a person to me - and what an unlovable person, at that!

One interview said the book's "comic masterstroke" was that writer John Irving made all of the characters in this book writers. Ha ha ha ha haaaaaa.....oh wait. That's so funny, I forgot to laugh. It would have been funny if all of the characters were hot dog vendors, for example, or clowns. But I fail to see what is funny about a writer writing about writers.

Which brings me to my next complaint. Most of this book felt like a big inside joke between John Irving and John Irving. As the reader, I felt left out. Then I made the mistake of reading some biographical details about Irving (even though his main character in Widow for One Year, Ruth, says that she never reads biographies of authors because they make her feel let down), and I felt let down. Pretty much everything that happens in the book can be traced back to a true event in Irving's life. John Irving is a very creative person, but I expect slightly more from such a famous author.

John Irving is a master at his craft. Therefore, I will never, ever doubt an interest in his books again. A Widow for One Year sat on my shelf for years. I had read two of Irving’s previous books and enjoyed them, but something about this one made me stay away. The premise isn’t something that would normally make me rush out and want to read it. A couple in the 1950′s, lose their two teenage sons in a tragic car accident. They have another child, this time a girl. The mother, Marion, can’t face being a mother again, and the father, Ted, is a philandering drunk, rather than a supportive husband. Sounds like a book that’s full of psychological headgames. Definitely not for me.

And while that is the backdrop, it’s not the story. This tale is about the daughter, Ruth, and while her life is certainly messed-up because of events that happened before she was even born, the events that happen after her birth are fascinating – albeit in a watching a car wreck kind of way. Irving not only weaves a narrative that I found impossible to put down, his writing was a work of art. He understands the power of the written word and how a seemingly simple line can weave a thread throughout a story and take it to a higher place. And I must add this: the last line of A Widow For One Year is the best final line of any book, ever. I’m going to have to put John Irving on my favorite authors list now. 4 1/2 stars.

Уперше таке сталося, що мене геть не зачепив роман Ірвінґа. Майже немає того, що хотілося б залишити в пам'яті. Діставшись чверті паперової версії, "перестрибнула" на аудіокнижку, щоб все таки закінчити. Частина мене все ж сподівається, що є певна причина цієї нескінченної низки проявів нищівної буденності, яка згодом засяє за допомогою неймовірних авторських фінтів в останніх розділах, але що далі я просуваюся, тим більше розчаровуюся.

I hated about 89% of this book. The first part-- the whole 1958 part-- I really loved. Loved Eddie's goofy dad, the clam truck driver, Mrs. Vaughan, Ted drunkenly making Ruth grilled cheese. I was really excited to keep reading.

I even loved the beginning of the next part-- Eddie running around in the rain trying to get to the book reading. After that? JUST WTF. Adult Ruth was insufferable. Hannah was about four billion times more insufferable. Ruth's journal and novel excerpts-- yep, insufferable. Eddie and the old ladies-- sorry-- WEIRD. And what was with all the freaking squash? Only thankful I didn't read this in an academic setting because I'm sure it was a METAPHOR or something but seriously shut up about squash. And then next thing I know we've gone from 1958 Hamptons to prostitutes being murdered in 1990 Amsterdam?? HUH??? Just hated it.

Two stars are begrudgingly bestowed only because of the merits of the beginning and a particularly moving closing line. Otherwise, I wish I would have quit reading this.

“What greater thing is there for two human souls, than to feel that they are joined for life - to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in all pain, to be one with each other in silent unspeakable memories at the moment of the last parting?“

Oh, John Irving. You have done it again. You have taken my heart and torn it in two; you have opened my eyes a little more.

Published in 1998, exactly twenty years after The World According to Garp, A Widow for One Year is in many ways a spiritual successor to that modern classic. It deals with themes of loss; at the fore is not just one author but four; Irving again touches on themes like lost parents and prostitution and strange sexual situations. This is John Irving — you either like it, or you don’t. I certainly do.

Unlike Garp, however, underlying this tome is a theme of redemption, hope. If Garp is stark winter — for it is quite bleak, pessimistic — then Widow is early Autumn: this story is told in shades of light brown and orange.

If A Prayer for Owen Meany did not exist, this would be my favorite Irving novel. A beautiful rumination on long loves and the creative process, this is worthy reading for anyone who appreciates a well-rendered literary journey.

DNF. I seem to have lost my taste for John Irving. As a young person, he was my favorite author, but I got about halfway through this book and realized I was bored.

Successfully finished this one!

A love-hate relationship right from the start, I took to reading other books just to keep me away from the rantings of my emotionally charged up mind. Half way through I started reading a few reviews trying to justify my shelving it. But this book just won't leave me or rather I just couldn't leave it half read.

The icing was reading John Irving's interview on this book, wherein he admits, "it is my intention, as a novelist, to move you to laughter and to tears, and that I use the language to persuade you emotionally, not intellectually ... In a novel, sentimental risks are essential; concealing one’s emotions is a form of political correctness, which is a kind of cowardice."

The first couple hundred pages of the book, before it jumps forward several decades, are the most even, and it is this part of the story that is most endearing. This first part introduces us to the story's three or four main characters and chronicles their shared summer of 1958--a summer which, you guessed it, has profound effects on the rest of all their lives.

And it is much of the rest of these lives that Irving takes us through in the remaining four hundred pages, and due to the front-heavy nature of the book's dramatic set-up it's probably unavoidable that the follow-through seems noticeably lacking in some intensity.

But I was still happy to follow the characters along, and for the most part they all seem to end up in their correct places. I didn't buy every plot turn/twist (and the shaky pages set in Amsterdam make it clear that Irving is far more at home in his native New England), but Irving is a great storyteller and easily convinces the reader to weather the impressive storm of plot mechanics he (again) rouses to move things along. All in all: An enjoyable read, but pick up the more-satisfying Prayer for Owen Meany first.

3 stars only cuz the ending wrapped up really nicely and i almost cried but this book wasn't really worth crying. The characters were weird and they did very questionnable things and also there were too many plots happening and i forgot most of the characters. Also slightly disturbing but more just uncomfy and also i think i hate all the characters except the kid