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Title details for The Last Chairlift by John Irving - Wait list

The Last Chairlift

by John Irving
Jacques Roy
Audiobook
0 of 2 copies available
Wait time: About 13 weeks
Place a hold Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
0 of 2 copies available
Wait time: About 13 weeks
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
One of the world’s greatest novelists returns with his first novel in seven years—a ghost story and a love story, spanning eight decades of sexual politics.
John Irving has written some of the most acclaimed books of our time—among them, The World According to Garp, The Cider House Rules, A Prayer for Owen Meany, and A Widow for One Year. TIME magazine describes his work as “epic and extraordinary and controversial and sexually brave.” Now Irving has written what he calls his last long novel—only shorter ones ahead.
     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, Adam will go to Aspen. In the Hotel Jerome, where he was conceived, Adam will meet some ghosts; they aren’t the first or the last ghosts he sees.
     If you’ve never read a John Irving novel, you’ll be captivated by storytelling that is tragic and comic, embodied by characters you’ll remember long after you’ve finished their story. If you have read John Irving before, you’ll rediscover the themes that made him a bard of alternative families—a visionary voice on the subject of sexual freedom. The author’s favourite tropes are here, but this meticulously plotted novel has powerful twists in store for readers. The Last Chairlift breaks new artistic ground for Irving, who has been called “among the very best storytellers at work today” (The Philadelphia Inquirer); “the American Balzac” (The Nation); “a pop star of literature, beloved by all generations” (Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich); and “the voice of social justice and compassion in contemporary American literature” (The Globe and Mail). With The Last Chairlift, readers will once again be in John Irving’s thrall.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 18, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780735276239
      • File size: 943771 KB
      • Duration: 32:46:11

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 22, 2022
      This overblown and underplotted behemoth of a novel from Irving (The World According to Garp) follows the idiosyncratic journey to adulthood of Adam, an illegitimate child born and raised in New England who becomes a writer. The search for Adam’s father’s identity provides a thriller element, but it never generates much narrative momentum. Dickensian in scope, the book includes multiple story lines, notably the complex love life of Adam’s lesbian mother, Little Ray, a ski instructor who marries a man who will identify as a woman. Nora, an outspoken lesbian cousin who’s a victim of sexual violence, also plays a significant role. Along the way, Irving chronicles American society from the 1950s to roughly the present, focused on feminism and sexual intolerance. His enormous imagination, his storytelling gifts, and his intelligence are all on display, but this feels more like a coda to his career, if one with a still-resonant theme about family and the maternal relationship: “We’re alone in the way we love our mothers, or in the way we don’t.” Irving’s fans may love this, but it’s not the place to start for anyone new to his work. Agents: Dean Cooke, Cooke McDermid, and Janet Turnbull, Turnbull Agency.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Jacques Roy does the heavy lifting in this update from the chronicler of American sexual politics and champion of nontraditional families. Harkening back to his first hit, THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP, this novel plays the same chorus with new verses. The ensemble voices in this behemoth of an audiobook take part in the imagined screenplays that are part of the novel. 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. Fans will relish this report on society since 1950, but this audiobook isn't where you want to start your love affair with Irving. R.O. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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