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Ok, I said I would post some comments (in some thread, but can't remember which one, so I'll post here in this Thread I started), about John Irving's new novel, Last Night in Twisted River: A Novel.
I'm now 27% into it, and it's a rich novel, steeped in life and slow-moving like (indeed) a slow-moving river coursing its way across a landscape of imagination.
Irving writes with a majesty and love toward his characters - one feels the intensity of their emotions and of Irving's closeness to what he has created. There is something close to the core of what it means to be human that he is exploring, both of beauty and of ugliness; but throughout, the Reader senses the love Irving feels for these people.
I must talk in generalities, as there is so much more to read and to learn from this engaging novel. Please keep in mind that I love Irving's works - even the slow and pedantic moments that occur in almost all of his writing - because (for me), there is the irredeemable quality of majesty in his characters as they enjoin one to LIVE with them, to share in their hopes and dreams, their loves and their hates.
There is present always a grandeur in Irving's characters, and for this I am grateful to be reading him, to love the world he creates, and to have the opportunity to discover something of myself in his characters.
The human spirit rings true, even though the incidences he relates are sometimes beyond one's experience.
To conclude: Deliciously slow in an artistic way. Embued with Life and Artistry. A work of imaginative beauty.
Don
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