Book One Hundred and Eleven
Dec. 16th, 2010 05:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spooky_missBook One Hundred and Eleven - Widow for One Year by John Irving
This book started really good, but I found the ending a bit disjointed and not as good as the rest of it. It is the story of Ruth (who is aged 4 at the beginning of the book) and her parents Marion and Ted. Marion and Ted also had two older sons, who have died in a car crash before the beginning of the book, and there are lots of photos of them around the house. It is also the story of Eddie, who comes to work with Ted, who is a writer, for one summer and has an affair with Marion. He's only 16 and she's a lot older, so its a bit like one of those "sexual awakening" type affairs, and it starts his obsession with older women. Then one day Marion disappears, leaving Eddie, Ted, and Ruth. The book then jumps forward in time, and Ruth is a successful writer, and its about how she is living her life and has started to not worry about where her mother is. Eddie is still worrying about it and hopes that she'll come back. Then theres a long bit about when Ruth goes to the red-light district of Amsterdam, and witnesses a murder, has this obsessive fan, and then her father commits suicide, after having had an affair with Ruth's best friend. Ruth then gets a husband and has a son, and then her husband dies, so she gets married to the policeman in Amsterdam who worked out that she was the witness to the murder.
As I said, it started well, the bit about Marion, Eddie, Ted and Ruth when they were younger was excellent, but then the book got a bit mixed up, and it was almost like John Irving had lots of different ideas for short scenes and wanted them all to be in the book. I would have preferred the story of Eddie and Ruth in the intervening years, how Eddie's experiences with Marion changed him, and how Ruth grew up without a mother. Maybe it was good for what it was, but I wanted to read the other story! :) I'm not sure how I feel about John Irving, I really like The World According to Garp, but really dislike A Prayer for Owen Meany, and then theres this one which I like and dislike at the same time! I think he's also written The Cider House Rules, which is apparently good, so maybe I'll try and read that one next. Not sure if I recommend this one. Yes because it is good, but its not the best book in the world, so maybe no! :) 6.5 / 10
Currently reading Schotts Almanac 2010 - which is not actually about 2010 at all, its about September 2008 - September 2009, but so far its good, its got all the little bits of trivia which I like to read about! :)
This book started really good, but I found the ending a bit disjointed and not as good as the rest of it. It is the story of Ruth (who is aged 4 at the beginning of the book) and her parents Marion and Ted. Marion and Ted also had two older sons, who have died in a car crash before the beginning of the book, and there are lots of photos of them around the house. It is also the story of Eddie, who comes to work with Ted, who is a writer, for one summer and has an affair with Marion. He's only 16 and she's a lot older, so its a bit like one of those "sexual awakening" type affairs, and it starts his obsession with older women. Then one day Marion disappears, leaving Eddie, Ted, and Ruth. The book then jumps forward in time, and Ruth is a successful writer, and its about how she is living her life and has started to not worry about where her mother is. Eddie is still worrying about it and hopes that she'll come back. Then theres a long bit about when Ruth goes to the red-light district of Amsterdam, and witnesses a murder, has this obsessive fan, and then her father commits suicide, after having had an affair with Ruth's best friend. Ruth then gets a husband and has a son, and then her husband dies, so she gets married to the policeman in Amsterdam who worked out that she was the witness to the murder.
As I said, it started well, the bit about Marion, Eddie, Ted and Ruth when they were younger was excellent, but then the book got a bit mixed up, and it was almost like John Irving had lots of different ideas for short scenes and wanted them all to be in the book. I would have preferred the story of Eddie and Ruth in the intervening years, how Eddie's experiences with Marion changed him, and how Ruth grew up without a mother. Maybe it was good for what it was, but I wanted to read the other story! :) I'm not sure how I feel about John Irving, I really like The World According to Garp, but really dislike A Prayer for Owen Meany, and then theres this one which I like and dislike at the same time! I think he's also written The Cider House Rules, which is apparently good, so maybe I'll try and read that one next. Not sure if I recommend this one. Yes because it is good, but its not the best book in the world, so maybe no! :) 6.5 / 10
Currently reading Schotts Almanac 2010 - which is not actually about 2010 at all, its about September 2008 - September 2009, but so far its good, its got all the little bits of trivia which I like to read about! :)
