Last Night in Twisted River

A Novel

By: John Irving

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

Length: 24 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

In 1954, in the cookhouse of a logging and sawmill settlement in northern New Hampshire, an anxious twelve-year-old boy mistakes the local constable’s girlfriend for a bear. Both the twelve-year-old and his father become fugitives, forced to run from Coos County–to Boston, to southern Vermont, to Toronto–pursued by the implacable constable. Their lone protector is a fiercely libertarian logger, once a river driver, who befriends them.

In a story spanning five decades, Last Night in Twisted River–John Irving’s twelfth novel–depicts the recent half-century in the United States as “a living replica of Coos County, where lethal hatreds were generally permitted to run their course.” From the novel’s taut opening sentence–“The young Canadian, who could not have been more than fifteen, had hesitated too long”–to its elegiac final chapter, Last Night in Twisted River is written with the historical authenticity and emotional authority of The Cider House Rules and A Prayer for Owen Meany. It is also as violent and disturbing a story as John Irving’s breakthrough bestseller, The World According to Garp.

What further distinguishes Last Night in Twisted River is the author’s unmistakable voice–the inimitable voice of an accomplished storyteller. Near the end of this moving novel, John Irving writes: “We don’t always have a choice how we get to know one another. Sometimes, people fall into our lives cleanly–as if out of the sky, or as if there were a direct flight from Heaven to Earth–the same sudden way we lose people, who once seemed they would always be part of our lives.”

©2009 John Irving (P)2009 Random House

Critic reviews

"Absolutely unmissable . . . [A] big-hearted, brilliantly written and superbly realized intergenerational tale of a father and son.”—Financial Times

“Engrossing . . . Irving’s sentences and paragraphs are assembled with the skill and attention to detail of a master craftsman creating a dazzling piece of jewelry from hundreds of tiny, bright stones.”—Houston Chronicle

“There’s plenty of evidence in Irving’s agility as a writer in Last Night in Twisted River. . . . some of the comic moments are among the most memorable that Irving has written.”—New York Times

Better to read it

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.

Not Plausible

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.

Very slow!

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.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book

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.

ugh

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.

I love John Irving but................

This rambled on forever. I only kept listening because I thought somethining better was coming. When I got to the last two hours I realized nothing was going to happen. I am a huge Updike fan, but these characters were unbelievable. The political rambling at the end was just too much.

Not worth 2 credits.

I'm a big fan of Irving, but I've listened to the entire book and I find myself not caring about any of the characters.

A good long ramble

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.

Skip it

Endless. Tedious. Pointless. Skip it. Should get a medal for finishing it. Wish I had re-read Garp or Cider House instead.

Classic Irving...better narrator, please!

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.