Last Night in Twisted River: A Novel

I've been a fan of Irving's since 1978 when "Garp" was the first hardcover I ever bought. Since then there have been some very good books (Garp, Owen Meany, Widow for One Year) and some not as good (Son of the Circus, Fourth Hand, and Until I Find You). Twisted River is one of the better ones. Good story, good characters, and good writing. Unfortunately, I listened to it rather than buying the book and reading it. I found myself mentally rolling my eyes at some of the dialogue, until it occured to me that the problem was the reader and not the prose. When I imagined reading the words I was listening to, everything fell into place and the book instantly improved.

This is the same reader as "Until I Find You", which I had judged to be an interminable mess. Could it be that the earlier book was better than I originally thought? Well no, but a good reader can often improve the experience of reading a book. This one, who has a perfectly pleasant tone, has no ear for voices, particularly the women. In a dialogue-rich book like this one, it was very distracting and ultimately diminished my enjoyment of a very good novel.

I'd rate the book itself 4 stars and the performance 1 star.

I thoroughly enjoy this book and it's Garpish characters. I have to agree that I wasn't thrilled with the narrator who had a hard time with voices but the book its self was outstanding. I think it gives a insight to how the writer goes about putting a book together. Well done.

While I wouldn't rate this as one of Irving's best books, it's a good, long book that keeps your attention throughout. The reader is excellent, the locales interesting, and storyline well thoughtout.

Yes, the underlying plot line was completely ludicrous. Given the facts of events that occurred that fateful night in Twisted River there was no reason for folks to leave town. But I got beyond that and accepted the premise.

Yes, there was a repeat of the much earlier John Irving "sex in the car" scenario, but I forgave this duplication.

I even disregarded the author's political views being forced on both the characters and the listener.

And once I got beyond all that, I though the book was great, and I highly recommend it. Not Irving's best in my opinion, but a recommended read. But then again, I think "Until I Find You" is one of Irving's best but Audible listeners seem to think otherwise.

And despite what seems to be unanimous dislike for the narrator, I thought he did a great job!

Having just listened to A Prayer for Owen Meany, I saved my credit for a month to download the 2 credit Last Night In Twisted River. So many plot points in this novel are just not plausible. The central plot development is ridiculous. There are several points where characters finally act or react to an event that happened fifty or sixty years in the past. These characters have got to be the slowest in the history of literature.
Rather than the taut writing of Owen Meany, Night in Twisted River is pedantic, lengthy and dull.
If all that weren't disappointing enough, the narration in this book is just awful. The narrator makes children and women sound like they are being read by kids who taunt other kids on the playground.

I love John Irving, I really do but this book is terribly slow. I know if I could get through to the end I will be glad, but I simply cannot listen to another moment.

This is classic John Irving, better than Until I Find You. The narrator was poor with little attempt (or ability) to give voices to different characters. I'm surprised Audible didn't even list this as a new release, much less a featured new release. I found it by searching John Irving as an author.

I enjoyed this book, even though the characters are exaggerated. The story is a good solid story. The author does a nice job, and makes me look forward to reading more of his books. It seems like he leaves a part of himself in this book. I recommend you give it a try.

This is a great yarn and the reader is exceptionally good. I highly recommend it. My only criticism is that the female characters were not developed as well as the male characters. Perhaps that is characteristic of Irving's writing.

one word review: excruciating. I almost gave up on this; the story is strange, too many weird things happen (without merit), not one character was 'endearing' and the prose is wwwaaay theatrical. This might be better assimilated being read rather than listened to. This cost two credits (that's $30) for this gold member. I'm sorry I wasted my money on this.