- Category: Books » Fiction & Literature » Literary
- Format: Paperback Learn more about the Paperback format using Tower WIKI.
- Publisher: Ballantine Books
- ISBN: 034543479X
- WAPI (Tower ID): 102140942
- Release Date: November 1, 2001
- Average Customer Review: There are no customer reviews yet. Be the first to write a review!
- Tower.com Sales Rank: #65783 in Books (See Top 100 Books Bestsellers)
- #8134 in Fiction & Literature (See Top 100 Fiction & Literature Bestsellers)
- #655 in Literary (See Top 100 Literary Bestsellers)
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Product DescriptionMore Books by John Irving (Author)Run a Quick Search on "A Widow for One Year" by John Irving to Browse Related Products:Browse more products related to "A Widow for One Year"Browse more products related to "John Irving"Review"By turns antic and moving, lusty and tragic, 'A Widow for One Year' is bursting with memorable moments." "Reestablishes John Irving as a premier storyteller, master of the tragicomic and among the first rank of contemporary novelists." "In Ruth, Irving captures the whole yuppie ZEITGEIST--the search for commitment AND adventure, meaning AND success. To be marked by love and loss and transform the pain into compelling, bestselling novels...could Ruth Cole (or John Irving) ask for more? "Irving's latest LBM (Loose Baggy Monster, that is), which portrays with seriocomic gusto the literary life and its impact on both writers and their families, is simultaneously one of this most intriguing books and one of his most self-indulgent and flaccid." "'A Widow for One Year', like all Irving books, is gripping and terrifying, full of horror and humour....[I]t is better than anything many contemporary writers will produce in a lifetime....the book is hard to put down, and will split your gut with laughter, and also with pain." "Irving's narrative dexterity is admirable, but eventually I yearned for the grip to slacken; by the final (1995) section, as every loose end is meticulously folded away, I was increasingly irritated by his enthusiastic telegraphing of punches. He uses flashbacks and flashes forward with equal zest, but these devices have different ontological status." ExcerptWhen, if only for a moment, the novelist steps out of the creator's role, what roles are there for the novelist to step into? There are only creators of stories and characters in stories; there are no other roles. Ruth had never felt such anticipation before. She felt she had absolutely no will to take control of what happened next; in fact, she was exhilarated NOT to be in charge. First lineOne night when she was four and sleeping in the bottom bunk of her bunk bed, Ruth Cole woke to the sound of lovemaking--it was coming from her parents' bedroom. It was a totally unfamiliar sound to her. Ruth had recently been ill with a stomach flu; when she first heard her mother making love, Ruth thought that her mother was throwing up. Publisher's noteThe number one bestselling author gives readers a new novel about a family marked by tragedy and the "difficult" women who survive. Both ribald and erotic, "A Widow for One Year" is also a brilliant, multi-layered work about the passage of time and the relentlessness of grief. AnnotationA novel in three sections about the life of Ruth Cole: her childhood in the Hamptons, her success as an author, and her experience as a widow on the brink of falling in love. The story begins in the summer of 1958, during Ted and Marion Cole's rocky marriage when their two sons die in a terrible accident. Ruth grows up in the shadow of the memory of the missing boys, about whom the parents talk incessantly. In the second section, the story leaps forward into 1990, when Ruth is on a speaking tour, and the action moves ahead to 1995 in the final third. This disturbing yet humorous novel touches upon the passage of time, the severity of grief, and a writer's relationship to her work. A New York Times Notable Book for 1998. If You Enjoy "A Widow for One Year (Paperback)", May We Also Recommend:
Customer Reviews for "A Widow for One Year (Paperback)" by John Irving (Author)There are no customer reviews yet. Be the first to write a review! Literary Bestsellers
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