The Last Chairlift

By: John Irving

Narrated by: Jacques Roy, Raquel Beattie, Cassandra Campbell, Chris Henry Coffey, Piper Goodeve, Em Grosland, Aden Hakimi, Graham Halstead, Chanté McCormick, Natalie Naudus, Aida Reluzco, Pete Simonelli, Natasha Soudek, Travis Tonn, Erin Ruth Walker

John Irving’s fifteenth novel is “powerfully cinematic” (The Washington Post) and “eminently readable” (The Boston Globe). The Last Chairlift is part ghost story, part love story, spanning eight decades of sexual politics.

In Aspen, Colorado, in 1941, Rachel Brewster is a slalom skier at the National Downhill and Slalom Championships. Little Ray, as she is called, finishes nowhere near the podium, but she manages to get pregnant. Back home, in New England, Little Ray becomes a ski instructor.

Her son, Adam, grows up in a family that defies conventions and evades questions concerning the eventful past. Years later, looking for answers, he will go to Aspen. In the Hotel Jerome, where he was conceived, Adam will meet some ghosts; in The Last Chairlift, they aren’t the first or last ghosts he sees.

John Irving has written some of the most acclaimed books of our time—among them, The World According to Garp and The Cider House Rules. A visionary voice on the subject of sexual tolerance, Irving is a bard of alternative families. In the “generously intertextual” (The New York Times) The Last Chairlift, readers will once more be in his thrall.

Critic reviews

"Roy’s pleasing and cordial voice navigates the story of Rachel Brewster, Little Ray, and her son, Adam, as ghosts of former relatives haunt their unconventional family. Roy portrays gender twists and sexual violence with a steady hand."

I endured hours and survived the book.

The narrator was very good, but I could not help thinking that this book would have been a perfect fit for Joe Barrett to narrate.

With lengthy books, I do not think about the length until it starts to feel arduous, which this book became well before the middle. Toward the latter part, I wanted to ski downhill right to the end, but fought the urge and finished the book, word by word.

It’s in a typical John Irving style, telling a story painstakingly, intelligently and creatively but I cannot say that I liked this book much in spite of an interesting synopsis by one of my favorite authors.

This book was a potpourri of social issues outside of the “norm” for the time where the story takes place. A slightly misplaced hippiesque story for 2022. I suppose considering that the book covers a life span of 70 plus years of the protagonist, perhaps almost 33 hours is justified, but the problem was that it was not that engaging (to me).

This book did not reach me as I had hoped, but I finished the book with a mindset of a cross country skier’s determination to reach the finish line out of my respect and admiration for the author.

Needs serious editing

I hate to say this, because I love John Irving. Overly long and repetitive. Screen writing parts take away from story. I will finish this only because it is John Irving. The editor should have been much more assertive in working with author I think.

Slow

Sorry, I couldn’t finish this one. Too much of everything, nicknames, hate of Republicans, just too much, too long.
Not the John Irvingive come to enjoy

Gotta love John Irving

Nobody writes like John Irving! What a romp with all the classic Irvingisms - sex, wrestling and politics all interwoven into a fascinating story.

Too weird for some

This story by John Irving is a love song to all people who don’t fit in. It’s touching and funny at times. I would have eliminated the screenplay sections. They were tedious. It could have used some editing. A bit too long.