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   Reader reviews of A Widow For One Year

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A Widow For One Year

A Widow For One Year
by John Irving
Hardcover: Apr 1998,
537 pages.
Paperback: Mar 1999,
537 pages.

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Rated 2 of 5 of 5 by Sheri Delvin
Writing a woman the way some man might like her
This is my first John Irving book. I'm sorry, but it is surprising to me that this book was written by a 77 year old man. It reads more like the inner world of a 27 year old man. The female characters are not believeable - except perhaps for the elusive Marion. She was smart she disappeared in the middle of the first of the three part story. None of the characters kept my sympathy for very long, the one character who had promise was Eddie - and he made impotent by the author because ... he didn't drink or he respected women? This indeed is self-indulgent writing with little depth and, like the characters, no courage. Does John Irving always write such unbelieveable women characters?

Rated 5 of 5 of 5 by Billie Murphy
A keeper - thought provoking
I read this book when it was released and was fortunate to eventually find a leather bound, signed and numbered edition.

I have all of John Irving's books and WIDOW FOR A YEAR is one of my all time favorites - NEVER begin to make the turn until the traffic is cleared - NEVER! DO NOT turn those wheels until you are actually turning.

I am introducing this to my book club this month and I am hopeful they will enjoy this amazing piece as much as I did.

Rated 5 of 5 of 5 by angel
intriguing
A book that has the unique ability to trigger off the deepest compassion for the protagonists' fates as well as spark off a fascinatingly sensual pleasure in the reader. A book that makes you dream of beauty...A book that enables you to appreciate your own world and the place you inhabit in it!

Rated 5 of 5 of 5 by jeni dela cruz
i hope the film gives justice to the book. a haunting love story. erotic.

Rated 5 of 5 of 5 by jim
Once again Irving has wowed me with his special art of story telling. And his penchant for developing a plot and throwing in a zinger at appropriate points is masterfully demonstrated here. And the settings are both interesting and educational (Amsterdam's red light district, for example). It is a wonderful book...perhaps Irving's best yet, and that's saying something.

Rated 3 of 5 of 5 by Joan
Definately too long and drawn out. I almost gave up on it half way through. I didn't care for any of the characters...I could not get emotionally involved or attatched like I usually do when reading a good novel. I didn't feel that any of the characters had grown or accomplished anything. I felt they were the same characters at the end as they were in the beginning with little or no growth. It was very disappointing to read the entire book and there was no forward motion within the characters...only time moved forward but the characters remained stagnat.
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