Critical Praise
"Wonderfully satisfying ...[Irving] tells this story with so much delight that it's difficult for the reader not to be infected with the same kind of joy in the reading.... With all the raunchy sex, delightful digressions on the contemporary literature scene, glimpses into the lives of gardeners and shopkeepers, schoolteachers and police officers, and a wonderful section set in the red-light district of Amsterdam, with a murder thrown in, there is an underlying sense of wonder that makes the novel seem almost like something written for the child in us. "
———The Dallas Morning News
"Enchantingly balances the haunting tug of grief with the lure of enduring love ...Irving's rich narrative and his sense of play result in a delicious collusion between author and reader. "
———Raleigh News & Observer
"[A] fast read that maintains its swift, entertaining pace ...Sorrow and sadness abound in this latest world according to Irving. But there is also much comic joy. Some of the maddest madcap scenes are the funniest, or at least the most surreal, since Peter De Vries, that great American Dutch Master, savaged suburbia. "
———Hartford Courant
" [Irving's] characters can beguile us onto thin ice and persuade us to dance there. His instinctive mark is the moral choice stripped bare, and his aim is impressive. What's more, there's hardly a writer alive who can match his control of the omniscient point of view.... As it tracks protagonists Ruth Cole and Eddie O'Hare through 37 years of separate lives, A Widow for One Year lures us onto the terrain of irreparable grief and a little bit beyond.... No wonder the novel sent me looking for an imaginary children's book in my house. The likes of Ruth and Eddie, so comprehensively flawed and sweetly deserving, incline a reader to invite them in, to stay. "
———The Washington Post Book World
"Moving and memorable ...This novel marks a return to the deep but gentle examination of human nature that made Garp so successful. "
———San Diego Union—Tribune
"In the sprawling, deeply felt A Widow for One Year, John Irving has delivered his best novel since The World According to Garp.... Like a warm bath, it's a great pleasure to immerse yourself in. "
———Entertainment Weekly
"A Widow for One Year is as compelling as Garp. It might be even better. Which is to say it's terrific.... Filled with compassion and complexity ...A tribute to Irving's powers as a writer ...His most moving book. A Widow for One Year demonstrates, without a doubt, that John Irving is one of America's great storytellers. "
———San Jose Mercury News
"[A] sprawling, complex family history, A Widow for One Year will appeal to readers who like old-fashioned storytelling mixed with modern sensitivities. Wisely and carefully crafted, it's a novel about grief, the kind that lingers, and about families, the ones we're born into and ones we make for ourselves. Irving is among the few novelists who can write a novel about grief and fill it with ribald humor soaked in irony. "
———USA Today
"John Irving is arguably the American Balzac, or perhaps our Dickens--a rip-roaring storyteller whose intricate plot machinery is propelled by good old-fashioned greed, foolishness and passion. "
———The Nation
"Masterful ...Powerful ... Irving's best books are Dickensian in their rich characters, plotting and language--and of course, in moving the reader. On the final page of A Widow for One Year ...I literally burst out crying. "
———Orlando Sentinel
"Irving's most entertaining and persuasive novel since his 1978 bestseller, The World According to Garp. "
———The New York Times
"Deeply affecting ...The pleasures of this rich and beautiful book are manifold. To be human is to savor them. "
———Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Compelling ...John Irving is at the peak of his considerable powers in A Widow for One Year, his most intricate and fully imagined novel.... Irving's narrative spans 37 years in the life of Ruth Cole and the people around her.... By turns antic and moving, lusty and tragic, A Widow for One Year is bursting with memorable moments.... A testament to one of life's most difficult lessons: In the end, you just have to find a way to keep going. "
———San Francisco Examiner—Chronicle
