A Widow for One Year

A Novel

By: John Irving

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 24 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Ruth Cole is a complex, often self-contradictory character — a "difficult" woman. By no means is she conventionally "nice", but she will never be forgotten.

Ruth's story is told in three parts, each focusing on a crucial time in her life. When we first meet her in the summer of 1958 on Long Island, Ruth is only four.

The second window into Ruth's life opens in the fall of 1990, when Ruth is an unmarried woman whose personal life is not nearly as successful as her literary career. She distrusts her judgment in men, for good reason.

A Widow for One Year closes in the autumn of 1995, when Ruth Cole is a 41-year-old widow and mother — and about to fall in love for the first time.

Richly comic, as well as deeply disturbing, A Widow for One Year is a multilayered love story of astonishing emotional force. Both ribald and erotic, it is also a brilliant novel about the passage of time and the relentlessness of grief.

©1998 Garp Enterprises, Ltd. (P)1998 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

“By turns antic and moving, lusty and tragic, A Widow for One Year is bursting with memorable moments.” (San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle)

"Wisely and carefully crafted...Irving is among the few novelists who can write a novel about grief and fill it with ribald humor soaked in irony." (USA Today)

“Deeply affecting . . . The pleasures of this rich and beautiful book are manifold. To be human is to savor them.” (Los Angeles Times Book Review)

It's not the destination, it's the journey...

Looking over the reviews for this book, I see some frustration at the lack of resolution, how the book never "went anywhere", etc. That's John Irving. When I download one of his books, I know I am in for a lot of entertaining character development, interesting, interconnected vignettes and the like, but that I may not be getting a big tidy story arc or a punchline. It's still great listening, in my opinion!

When I first heard George Guidall years ago, I thought I might not be a fan because his voice has a grandfatherly characteristic to it that I felt might be hard to overcome when voicing younger or female characters, but I've come around on that opinion. He's narrated some of my favorites and seems like an old friend at this point.

Held my interest throughout

I didn't enjoy it as much as 'Owen Meany' but it is right up there. John Irving does not disappoint!

John Irving January Continues

For the last five years I have begun the new year with a John Irving novel. This title has always been less appealing to me when I begin researching which Irving novel to take up next, but I was wonderfully happy to find myself a fool for overlooking the novel for so long.

Good but flawed

John Irving writes good, satisfying stories, with good characters. This long book has some great characters but Irving seems to think that all men have breast fixations that just won't quit, and it gets very tiresome. He just won't let up on the breasts, and pity the woman who is underendowed in that department. The story (or interwoven stories) move right along, and aside from one horrific, depressing incident in the later part of the book, it's believable within Irving's frame of reference. The bummer incident could have been modified or reconstructed in any number of ways to be more believable and not give the reader such an unpleasant kick in the pants. (It left me in a shocked, unhappy mood for hours after that part of the book.) Anyway, I do recommend the book, and I did enjoy it, but I bet lots of people will not care for it.

I'm with June

This isn't among Irving's best, but even when he's not in top form, Irving writes with such flavor that the story stays in the mind long after you've finished the book. I was less than captivated by what feels like the author's over-interest in his alter ego's sexual prowess, and would have been delighted if the book had been two hours shorter.

Even better second time around

I read this book about 20 years ago and now that I have lived a little more, it touches a deeper place inside

A fan from the past

Very good book, better than Garp but not quite Owen Meany. Touching, with the style of a true master.

Uneven and not my favorite of his books

This book is in three parts - I found the first and third parts much more engaging and easy to get immersed in than the middle section which became tedious and (to me) overly detailed about Amsterdam's red light district - plus I agree with other reviewers that in general the "book within a book" sections really bogged down the flow and I ended up fast forwarding through them after a few minutes. Also agree that the passages about the main character's breasts and the fixations men had with them got REALLY repetitive. There were times when there was more information about a minor character than felt needed for the story and it felt like being pulled down a rabbit hole.

Having said that, I did enjoy much of the book and thought it was, of course, beautifully written. Where it worked I got very swept up in the story and characters. My all time favorite John Irving book is A Prayer for Owen Meany, followed closely by Cider House Rules. To me this book was nowhere near as wonderful, but still worth listening to. I liked the performance also.

Definitely John Irving

I downloaded this John Irving novel after having read many of his books years ago. I jumped in with this recent novel and found it to be the John Irving that I read years ago. The style and motif are the same and I was not disappointed. The narration in this case was good, but not great. I think I'd have appreciated it more if it had been dramatized, not just narrated.

I love John Irving's books (and authors) inside books. And he takes it one degree further in A Widow for One Year. I just couldn't bring myself to give this selection five stars though.

George Guidall makes it great.

What made the experience of listening to A Widow for One Year the most enjoyable?

It's not my favorite John Irving novel but still a wonderful experience. Anything read by George Guidall is enjoyable.

Would you be willing to try another book from John Irving? Why or why not?

Of course. Great writer.

Which character – as performed by George Guidall – was your favorite?

Ruth.