Book Review #4: Last Night in Twisted River

I love a good story. The best movies are simply good stories. It’s never the special effects that make the movie for me; it’s the story. Movies almost never tell the story as well as a novel. If there is one exception in my view it would be, To Kill a Mockingbird, but I digress. A good novel tells a riveting story that has heroes and villains, conflicts and adventure, mystery and characters that feel like personal friends by the end of the story. John Irving is a great writer capable of telling stories that suck you in and make you feel the sadness, joy, fear, and dogged determination of the characters. So it was with great anticipation last spring that I began his novel Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving.

The main characters are father and son, Dominic and Danny Baciagalupo, who begin in a Maine logging camp (Dominic is the cook) and flee a determined lawman after a tragic accidental death. The story is too long, takes too many weird turns, and has too much gratuitous immorality. It’s one of those books that halfway through it you think, “I’m really not enjoying this at all, but I’m too far in to stop now… and maybe it will get better.” It didn’t. So I don’t recommend this Irving selection. Instead, I would recommend A Prayer for Owen Meany, another Irving novel.

http://www.amazon.com/Prayer-Owen-Meany-John-Irving/dp/006220422X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356130135&sr=1-1&keywords=a+prayer+for+owen+meany+by+john+irving

It will have you laughing out loud and then crying. The main character, Owen Meany of course, is unforgettable. He’s a dwarfish little boy who is absolutely convinced he is God’s instrument. So if you’re looking for a great story, skip “Twisted River” and go with “Owen Meany”.