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--on Long Island, in the summer of 1958--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. A Widow for One Year closes in the autumn of 1995, when Ruth Cole is a forty-one-year-old widow and mother. She's about to fall in love for the first time.
-Random House
Reader from Canada:
I found A Widow for One Year, and I am just now finishing it. John Irving took me from one extreme to the other and I love the characters. Ted Cole, we all know a Ted Cole. Eddie O'Hare could be my own son, and Ruth...well as a child, I wanted to wrap her in my arms and protect her; as an adult, she becomes my heroine. I really want this book to not end.
Reader:
...There was just something about this book that didn't sit well with me. Mind you, I'm not a prude, and in fact I prefer books that are daring and edgy. But...I had a very tough time maintaining any interest in any of the characters. I was ready to quit reading it at various points, but I did stick with it until the end. But it was generally an unrewarding read for me. And why did Irving have to keep bringing up the size of his protagonist's breasts time and time again?
CRITICS' REVIEWS:
Brad Hooper
Booklist
Irving should be required to do nothing more to secure his place as one of America's premier fiction writers. His latest novel, materfully conceived and constructed, is a joy to read. As one who discerns and tells about life in fictional format, Irving is bested by few of his contemporaries; as one who draws strong, sympathetic, and real characters, particularly female ones...Ruth Cole bears emotional scars from childhood and young womanhood that are, ironically, the impetus behind her distinguished writing career. (And Ruth is surrounded by a remarkably rich supporting cast.) The narrative is divided into three parts, each lining a pivotal period in Ruth's life...As one excellently rendered scene follows another, each scene at once ribald, humorous, and tender, Irving achieves a nuanced depiction of overcoming familial and sexual dysfunction.
