Reviews

Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving

adamd's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

disastrouspenguin's review

3.0

Reeeeeeeally long book without a traditional plot line. Lives happen; you read about it. A few particularly interesting things happen, here and there, without any particular emphasis. The thing is, the characters do get into your head. For me, this was especially true for Ketchum and "the cook".

Read it if you're feeling patient. Otherwise, pick something else.

hemauers's review

1.0

I used to love John Irving, so I forced myself to read this whole book. In the end, I really didn't care much about any of the characters or what happened to them. Blech.

amlagunas's review

3.0

I enjoyed the aspect of writing about writing and other elements, but the"unsavory" bits were too distracting to me.

roxannima's review

5.0

I'm a huge fan of John Irving already, but this book just confirmed it once again. I finished reading it yesterday and I can't stop thinking about the characters, wishing it were like a series I could revisit again next week. It's a wonderful story, and has all of the amazing Irving qualities: detailed descriptions, interesting characters, unbelievable (in some cases, literally) plots. I read it fast and enjoyed every page.

danchrist's review

4.0

A little too much insider baseball for me, but I couldn't turn away from the characters.

lcannon16's review

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

glendaleereads's review

3.0

This book has been sitting on my shelf for a while, because the first time I tried reading it, I could not get into it because Irving was slow in his beginning. I’m glad I pushed through reading this story because it did turn out good. I have read many of Irving novels and they were books that instantly hooked me from the beginning, with Twisted River , it was a slow process but eventually the story started picking up and all the details and plotting came together nicely.

I do think we could have done without certain details but writers know how they want their story to be told.

Overall, I enjoyed this read, not love, but a good story nonetheless.

akbhatia's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

2.0

It has been a while since I read this but what stands out most clearly is, “I don’t know if I needed to know so much about logging.” But Mr. Irving really wants you to know that he did the research. His writing is great (he really knows how to paint a scene in your head) but he gets into these weird rabbit holes of detail (like the logging.. and  particularly grating bits where he lectures the reader about good writing). It stops being a good story at some point. 

rachiecakes22's review against another edition

emotional hopeful slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25