I love John Irving!

The movie based off this story focuses on the family tragedy story line, but I find the mother's time in Amsterdam observing prostitutes far more interesting.

Ehkä huonoin Irvingin kirjoista tähän asti. Tämä vain oli jotenkin liian vakavaa ollakseen Irvingiä ja ensimmäistä kertaa rupesi ärsyttämään samat teemat ja asioiden toistaminen. Tästä puuttui se ilo, mikä muissa Irvingin kirjoissa on ollut.

Some brilliant scenes, I laughed more than three times also; but the second and especially the third parts of the book are week. It seemed to me, the author was falling apart "morally" in the process of writing, it feels like he is getting tired to develop his own characters and simplifies them to caricatures, watering it all down with boring endless descriptions and common knowledge data.
I am very disappointed.

Is it possible that Irving has a dozen second-best books? I love that this is narrated so successfully by a woman, and that he was so able to write an entire book about how messed up a girl's entire life can be based on poor relationships with men. It's kind of mind-boggling. The movie "The Door in the Floor," is the story of the first third-ish of this book and does a really good job. If you liked that movie, you haven't even seen the best of it.

Reading Irving’s afterword where he reflects on writing helps me appreciate what a skilled and gifted writer he is. When I rank my top ten or twenty books there are several of his that makes the list. 'A Widow for one year' however is not going to rank as one of my favourite Irving reads. On many levels this is a major accomplishment as it is a lengthy and complex novel, but somehow it still fails to rank alongside some of his other works (Until I find you, Cider House rules, to name a few). At one point, about three quarters of the way through the book, I couldn’t help thinking that this is one long obsession with sex. Freud would have loved it.

That being said, I am sure many will disagree with me and Irving is as always an enjoyable and entertaining read.

Yikes! I couldn't believe I was reading John Irving and not Danielle Steel with this one. I mean, A Widow is basically a "contemporary romance", and I do NOT in any way mean this generously or kindly. This "novel" was in fact quite disturbing, coming from such a revered, quintessentially literate and insightful American heavy-weight. I only rate it two-stars instead of one because Irving still knows how to string sentences together in ways that are not totally pulpy and degenerate.

Best book EVER!! I love John Irving!!

If the premise of the novel isn’t, “Life just keeps going, sans plot or a discernible theme,” I didn’t get it. But I’m not entirely sure that was the point? Which I guess proves the point? Or maybe it’s a reflective, “Bad things turn good if you give them enough time.” Anyway, I liked this one less than Cider House or Owen Meany. Those felt like stories with poignant messages to deliver, albeit in sad, realistic circumstances. The poignant message in this novel (assuming we can truthfully assign it one) is just too sad. BUT it’s certainly engaging and fun to read, per his usual style. Anyway, if given a to-do over, I’d probably not read it again. 🤷🏻‍♀️