Things seem to appear out of nowhere no matter how much I plan and there are always rocks to trip on. I always feel like I’m making my way through life like a blind spelunker. Unfortunately, it’s Eddie’s self-doubt and bumbling personality that I related to most.

I’d guess it’s similar to what makes Irving so influential today. I’d love to read some of her novels in full and see what makes her one of the most influential writers of her time. She was strong but loving and she was very sure of herself. Ruth was my favorite character and having her as the protagonist was a joy. Ted was a little unbelievable to me, but there’s always someone in a John Irving novel whose life and choices are a bit unbelievable and around who the story takes on a fantastical element. He seemed both shy and forward, which was a bit hard to understand, but he was a good guy, someone I could be friends with. Heck, he seems like the kind of man many women could be happy with. Allan was very realistic and seemed like the kind of man Ruth would have been very happy with. Ruth wasn’t the only character who seemed real to life. This book felt like it could really happen. The plot wasn’t so unbelievable that it felt like fiction. She made some decisions I never would have made, but she was a genuinely good person in the end and I liked her. I liked Ruth’s character and, unlike many Irving inventions, I actually found her a bit relatable. The main character was a writer, it took place in New England, sports were a major part of one or more character’s lives, their intimate relations were a bit screwy, and there was at least one tragic death. I wasn’t surprised to see a lot of Irving’s staples in this book. In A Widow for One Year, we follow Ruth Cole through three of the most pivotal times in her life: from her girlhood on Long Island (in the summer of 1958) through the fall of 1990 (when she is an unmarried woman whose personal life is not nearly as successful as her literary career), and at last in the autumn of 1995, when Ruth is a forty-one-year-old widow and mother (and she’s about to fall in love for the first time). Other books by Irving reviewed on this blog:

This book has been looming over my head ever since so I’m glad to finally have finished it. I meant to read this book three years ago with my work book club but I transferred to a new building and it never happened. It’s twisted in a way that makes him fun to read and even after reading so many of his books, he can still surprise me.

Widow for a year john irving review