Last Night in Twisted River [Hardcover]

I've been enjoying John Irving's novels for well over twenty years, but found his previous book (Until I Find You) unengaging. "Last Night in Twisted River" is, by contrast, a magnificent work that is absolutely up there with the best books John Irving has written.

The novel begins with a straightforward story, set in the logging camps of the great north woods in 1954. The subsequent sections divide up the years between then and 2005, and each continue the story, but not in a linear or expected direction. At times this can be disconcerting, and new information about the events of the previous chapters forces the reader to reinterpret the on-going story: I often found myself re-reading earlier sections in light of later discoveries.

The themes may superficially be familiar to John Irving readers, but it is not a re-treading of old ground. The tone of the book is about halfway between the exuberance of The World According to Garp, and the melancholy of A Widow for One Year, leaning slightly towards the later. If Garp is the story of youth to middle-age, then this novel can be seen as adding another half a life on top of that. The tendency of the novel to place crucial information unexpectedly in the middle of a paragraph can be emotionally shocking, particularly in the twelfth chapter. Many parts of the book are very moving.

While the book can easily be enjoyed purely for the story and characterisation, it also can be enjoyed for the playful way it shows the art of the novelist, particularly when it demonstrates how complex events can be turned into a simpler narrative: at the end you will certainly want to read the first chapter again.

Full of themes of identity, containing aspects of the social history of the last fifty years in North America, and with more recipes than a cookbook, it is a mammoth work - and one that lives up to the standards that John Irving set for himself in his novels of the 1980s. It's good to have him back on top form.

Before I begin I should note that, in common with many of the other reviewers, I have been a fan of John Irving for a long time. I think I have read, and enjoyed, all of his books (including Until I Find You). A Prayer for Owen Meany is probably my favourite book of all time (and one of the few that has actually brought me to tears).

And then came Last Night in Twisted River.

I have just finished the book. This, in itself, I felt was a major achievement and primarily a reflection of the fact that I am very reluctant to put a book to one side once I have started it.

I am used, in John Irving's work, to encountering many unique (and often bizarre) characters, interacting against an unpredictable, sometimes quite shocking or disturbing backdrop of events. The pace is not always fast, but Irving has a knack for working his characters under the skin of the reader and then, with an unexpected plot twist, creating situations of great emotional intensity.

On the face of it, Last Night in Twisted River has all the hallmarks of a classic Irving novel. The events which it describes take place over a 50-year period, it has a full helping of slightly off-beat, emotionally and/or physically damaged characters and it hinges around a truly bizarre event (right at the start, for those who might be worried about a spoiler).

However, for me at least, that's where the similarities end.

I felt no attachment to any of the characters in the book (with the possible exception of Ketchum's farting dog, but that doesn't really count). I think this is because, despite the lengthy descriptive prose, none of the characters really made any emotional connection with me. They were just, I suppose, there. I couldn't understand their motivations and didn't even feel much sympathy when one or two of them met their end. It was all very distant.

I also felt patronised by the book. Some of the translations felt like a primary school language lesson. I am also not sure why Irving felt the need to describe Danny as "the writer" constantly. Maybe it was all very clever, certainly too clever for me, but I was left with the impression that there was some fantastic literary joke at work known only to the author and his circle.

I wanted to like this book, but I didn't. I had an extra spring in my step for this morning's commute- a tedious book (and heavy too) finished and something more interesting to look forward to.

I would urge those thinking about getting to know Irving's works to start with A Prayer for Owen Meany or The World According to Garp.

Dominic Baciagalpo is a cook and when the story opens he is working in a logging camp in northern New Hampshire. He has sole responsibility for his twelve year old son, Danny, following the accidental death of Danny's mother some years previously.

By the very nature of the work, Dominic and Danny are in the company of people who like to live on the edge - rough and ready, hard drinking, some very honest and some very dishonest. When Danny mistakes his fathers lover for a bear and kills her with a frying pan, the die is cast and the very honest and faithful of the logging camp become pitted against the dishonest and vengeful.

Dominic and Danny go on the run, and Danny grows up with the shadow of his past always at his shoulder. When will it catch up? How many virtual bullets can they dodge?

This book is a thick one, plodding exhaustively through the stages of first Dominic's life, then Danny's. The middle is nowhere near as colourful as the beginning and by the end, if you are not enjoying the characters, it might become easy to wonder what it is all about.

I have to admit that it was mostly curiosity that got me to the end - would the corrupt police officer finally catch up with the father and son? How would Irving resolve all the threads of his story? If it wasn't for that I, like others, might have given up. The people in this story get old, they are more closely acquainted with losing people and there is little of the vibrant optimism of youth which, if my memory serves me right, was a strong feature of earlier Irving novels. This might be what makes this book a more difficult read and less satisfying read.

Would I recommend it? Not wholeheartedly - not if you want a guaranteed good read, but if you were prepared to take a gamble you might find yourself enjoying it.