Present Based On Books A Widow for One Year

Title	:	A Widow for One Year
Author	:	John Irving
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Special Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 576 pages
Published	:	June 1st 2004 by Ballantine Books (first published 1998)
Categories	:	Fiction. Contemporary

A Widow for One Year Paperback | Pages: 576 pages

Explanation In Pursuance Of Books A Widow for One Year

“One 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.”

This sentence opens John Irving’s ninth novel, A Widow for One Year, a story of a family marked by tragedy. Ruth Cole is a complex, often self-contradictory character—a “difficult” woman. By no means is she conventionally “nice,” but she will never be forgotten.

Ruth’s story is told in three parts, each focusing on a critical time in her life. When we first meet her—on Long Island, in the summer of 1958—Ruth is only four.

The second window into Ruth’s life opens on the fall of 1990, when she is an unmarried woman whose personal life is not nearly as successful as her literary career. She distrusts her judgment in men, for good reason.

A Widow for One Year closes in the autumn of 1995, when Ruth Cole is a forty-one-year-old widow and mother. She’s about to fall in love for the first time.

Richly comic, as well as deeply disturbing, A Widow for One Year is a multilayered love story of astonishing emotional force. Both ribald and erotic, it is also a brilliant novel about the passage of time and the relentlessness of grief.
Source: john-irving.com

Itemize Books To A Widow for One Year

Original Title:	A Widow for One Year
Edition Language:	English
Characters:	Ruth Cole, Ted Cole, Eddie O'Hare, Marion Cole
Literary Awards:	Audie Award for Fiction, Unabridged (1999)

Rating Based On Books A Widow for One Year

Ratings: 3.76 From 56317 Users | 2562 Reviews

Crit Based On Books A Widow for One Year

What the hell happened to John Irving??? The man that gave us Garp, Cider House, and Owen Meany has only produced mediocre works at best since 2000. Thankfully we have Richard Russo.

John Irvings website describes A Widow For One Year as " Richly comic, as well as deeply disturbing, A Widow for One Year is a multilayered love story of astonishing emotional force. Both ribald and erotic, it is also a brilliant novel about the passage of time and the relentlessness of grief." It all sounds so appealing to me so what a shame it is to discover that after reading all 668 pages my astonishing emotional responses were relief that I can now move on to something else, and

My 4-star "read" review is really a misnomer because I haven't really "read" this book. This is my third try at it and once again I am stopping at the same spot I stopped the other two times! I reread the first third of the book, which I enjoyed, got into the second third of the book, read about 50 pages and come to a grinding halt. I'm really not sure what it is that is stopping me at this point but since it is the third time, I'm not sure I will try again. I returned it to the library and am

I had really expected something different. This is the 1st of his books that I have read but I knew he wrote The World According to Garp, Cider House Rules and A Prayer for Owen Meany. Maybe it is just this book but I have to say that Mr. Irving has his mind in the gutter. (sorry to all of you who think this was a terrible thing to say!) He is funny sometimes and he does write memorable scenes, however... right now we are perusing the red light district in Amsterdam. There is sex on just about

I hated this book. John Iriving's inability to write women characters was a huge problem in this book since it has a female protagonist. I didn't care about her at all and I wasn't that intrigued by the story either. I generally like John Irving's writing style, but it didn't make any difference to me with this book because I didn't like one single character.

I don't much know how I feel about this one. The first section of the book is completely brilliant. As is the last line. But in between is rushed, contrite, and full of coincidences that seems like cheap ways to move the story along. Irving gets around conflict in the second part of the book by killing people off. Don't want to deal with the Ruth/Ted conflict? Kill him off! Don't want ruth to have to face her husband about what happened in Amsterdam? Kill him off! And apparently, having a baby