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Monday, October 4, 2010

Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving


The story ran over the course of Danny (Daniel) Baciagalupo’s life. From his 12 years old self at a logging camp in Coos County, New Hampshire, as a son of a cook in the camp to him being a famous writer in Iowa and towards him being alone, old and finally find his Lady Sky (his angel) in Toronto.

Being on the run after Danny accidently killed his father’s lover, who happened to be ‘crazy’ constable Carl’s woman. He and his dad (Dominic) became a fugitive and try to stay low and safe by the help of their old friend, a former river driver, Ketchum.

But, staying low and safe was hard when Danny became a famous writer and his dad, an accomplished Italian chef. They shifted town a few times, first from Boston to Vermont, then to Canada, just to avoid being tracked down by the constable. They decided to migrate to Canada when Danny’s son Joe went to college in Colorado. Joe died of a car accident when he was 23.

Over the course of the story, myriad of characters were introduced in their lives. Many interesting circumstances were thrown together. Enough to make one questioned the meaning of fate.

In the end, the constable traced them up through Ketchum’s Christmas Holiday visit and managed to kill Dominic. Danny gunned down the constable. Ketchum was devastated and hold himself guilty not only for the demise of his old friend but, also because of Danny’s mom (Rosie) long time ago. So he killed himself by cutting off his left hand and bleeds himself to die.

My verdict: expect to read a long and detailed novel. The only resentment I have for this book is Irving’s repetitious entries. But, if you’re devoted to Irving (like me), you’ll never let the resentment dampen down your love for the book. Owen Meany and Garp are still my favourite Irving’s, but Twisted River comes really close.

Rating: 9.5/10
Price: RM 39.00 (paperback)
p/s: Kowalski (also a favourite author of mine) wrote a very interesting review of this book here. i wrote of him (slightly) here, of his book Eddie's bastard.

4 comments:

jenkays said...

erkkk...

kukuanga said...

oooooo yeah!

ppong said...

erm..kestau bila keluar muvi ya.
watched The American which was adapted from a novel, A very private gentlemen, and gosh! sungguh burink dat muvi ~ kihkih, tidak relevant ni comment.

kukuanga said...

ada satu buku Irving yg sudah kena kasi jadi movie. The Cider House Rules..never saw it though. Matt Damon kali main dlm tu muvi.