Last Night in Twisted River

A Novel

By: John Irving

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

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

“A rich and evocative story.”—Washington Post

For John Irving fans

If you're a John Irving fan then you know what to expect. It's long. There are bears. There are children ripe to be traumatized. There are rambling side trips which eventually meander back to main story. It's an epic stroll through the lives of quirky characters. I enjoyed the story overall, although it did drag in spots. Definitely worth the listen.

Not his best but...

John Irving's lesser novels are still better than most other writers' best. A little far fetched, and a little repetitive of his other works, the author still sets up and navigates a story brilliantly.

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.

Too bad the story had to stop.

Not one to disappoint John Irving spins a great tale. The only sad part is that it has to end!

Another John Irving masterpiece

Irving can weave a tale with initially seemingly uninteresting characters. By the end one can’t keep them out of your mind. Finished the book this morning and can’t stop thinking about it. Also if one reads his books the similarities of his main characters become quite apparent. Same cast but different names with the personae’s being quite similar. It is a comforting feeling knowing already who these people are. I think I will go listen to Richard Russo before returning to Irving. Up state New York versus New England. And I got started years ago with Updikes Rabbit trilogy. This greatness from all three. Must be the snow.