Items related to A Widow for One Year (Deluxe, Signed Edition)
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. She distrusts her judgment in men, for good reason. 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.
Richly comic, as well as deeply disturbing A Widow for One Year is a multilayered love story of astonishing emotional force. Both ribald and erotic, it is also a brilliant novel about the passage of time and the relentlessness of grief.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review:
John Irving's A Widow For One Year is the epic story of a family, dysfunctional at best, unable to cope with tragedy--or with each other. The unabridged audiobook, narrated by George Guidall (The Cat Who Sang for the Birds, The Inner Sanctum, The Legacy) draws the listener in with a crisp, methodical vocal presentation. Guidall portrays each character with a convincingly distinct voice, accurately impersonating the characters' intonations and verbal habits. The interaction between characters is both conversational and believable.
From the Back Cover:
We first meet Ruth Cole in the summer of 1958 when she walks in on her mother having sex with 16-year-old Eddie O'Hare, the assistant to Ruth's alcoholic father. The death of Ruth's older brothers (years before she was born) turns her mother, Marion, into a zombie who is unable to love her surviving daughter. Ted Cole is a semisuccessful writer and illustrator of disturbingly creepy children's novels. His womanizing habits prove he's "as deceitful as a damaged condom," but he remains the only stable figure in Ruth's life. The tempestuous tale fast-forwards to the year 1990 when Ruth's soaring writing career is faring far better than her lackluster love life. The final segment of the novel ends in 1995 when 41-year-old Ruth is ready to fall in love for the first time.
This profoundly absorbing story expresses the depths of misery and the healing power of love. Irving writes as a true storyteller, and Guidall executes the narrative with vigor and enthusiasm. (Running time: 24.5 hours, 14 cassettes) --Gina Kaysen
"John Irving, it is abundantly clear, is a true artist." --Los Angeles Times
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherUnicycle Press
- Publication date1998
- ISBN 10 0966466101
- ISBN 13 9780966466102
- BindingLeather Bound
- Edition number1
- Number of pages560
- Rating
Other Popular Editions of the Same Title
Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace
Seller Image
A Widow for One Year - Limited/Numbered US Edition
Published by
Unicycle Press, Media, PA
(1998)
ISBN 10: 0966466101
ISBN 13: 9780966466102
Used
Hardcover
Signed
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Full-Leather. Condition: As New. Illustrated by Paula Ziegenhagen-Slick (illustrator). Limited/Numbered Edition. A special first US edition, limited to 1,200 copies preceding the US trade edition, SIGNED by author John Irving on the limitation page. A wonderful scarce book, never taken out of its original shrink-wrap, fully bound in black leather, distinctive gilded cover and spine design. An impeccable collectible; John Irving's deeply affecting novel about a family marked with tragedy, centering around the complex, often self-contradictory character of celebrated writer Ruth Cole. The portrait begins with Ruth being four years old and closes in the autumn of 1995, when Ruth Cole is a forty-one-year-old widow and mother. Basis for the major motion picture "The Door in the Floor" starring Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger; 8vo; Signed by Author. Seller Inventory # 12883
Buy Used
US$ 100.00
Convert currency
Stock Image
A Widow For One Year. Deluxe signed edition
Published by
Unicycle Press, Media, PA
(1998)
ISBN 10: 0966466101
ISBN 13: 9780966466102
Used
Hardcover
Signed
Quantity: 1
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Fine Condition. One of one thousand two hundred copies specially bound, and signed by the author on the limitation page. Bound in the publisher's original black composition leather with the spine and covers stamped in gilt. Seller Inventory # 9004057
Buy Used
US$ 144.00
Convert currency