An engaging and often affecting fable, a fairy tale that manages to be old-fashioned and modern all at once." "A sprawling 19th-century production, chock full of bizarre coincidences, multiple plot lines, lengthy digressions, and stories within stories. On the final page of A Widow for One Year. Irving's best books are Dickensian in their rich characters, plotting and language-and of course, in moving the reader. The pleasures of this rich and beautiful book are manifold. (Running time: 24.5 hours, 14 cassettes) -Gina Kaysen From the Back Cover: Irving writes as a true storyteller, and Guidall executes the narrative with vigor and enthusiasm. This profoundly absorbing story expresses the depths of misery and the healing power of love. The final segment of the novel ends in 1995 when 41-year-old Ruth is ready to fall in love for the first time. The tempestuous tale fast-forwards to the year 1990 when Ruth's soaring writing career is faring far better than her lackluster love life.
His womanizing habits prove he's "as deceitful as a damaged condom," but he remains the only stable figure in Ruth's life. Ted Cole is a semisuccessful writer and illustrator of disturbingly creepy children's novels. The death of Ruth's older brothers (years before she was born) turns her mother, Marion, into a zombie who is unable to love her surviving daughter. We first meet Ruth Cole in the summer of 1958 when she walks in on her mother having sex with 16-year-old Eddie O'Hare, the assistant to Ruth's alcoholic father. The interaction between characters is both conversational and believable. Guidall portrays each character with a convincingly distinct voice, accurately impersonating the characters' intonations and verbal habits.
The unabridged audiobook, narrated by George Guidall ( The Cat Who Sang for the Birds, The Inner Sanctum, The Legacy) draws the listener in with a crisp, methodical vocal presentation. John Irving's A Widow For One Year is the epic story of a family, dysfunctional at best, unable to cope with tragedy-or with each other.
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