CBR-III #16: John Irving: Last Night in Twisted River

In his afterword, John Irving describes himself as a sort of literary relic, one of the unfashionable few who still believe in plot. He mentions the novels that have influenced him, and from that alone, I should have known I'd love Last Night in Twisted River. It's massive (more than 650 pages long), and it's epic, and I love epic novels so much that I started taking the thickest books from the library shelves at random. In this case, knowing Irving's writing - although A Prayer for Owen Meany did not appeal to me on an emotional level - helped, but the fact that this book can not be read in one sitting was the main point.

The novel spans more than fifty years, beginning in a small New Hampshire logging settlement in 1954. Daniel Baciagalupo, at twelve years old, is an insecure, jumpy boy, living with his father Dominic, the settlement's cook, in a rough, and for the most part lawless, world. Accidents are common, and the boy has already lost his mother to the dangers of the place. Everyone in Twisted River is damaged in some way, is either crippled, bereaved, dangerously alcoholic, or morbidly obese. Within the first few sentences, the boy's 15-year-old friend dies. Yet there is comfort in the routine the boy shares with his father and their friend Ketchum. Stories of accidents, bear killings and violence mix with Daniel's memories of his mother and the story of her death, which he wants to be told again and again. One night, confusing the ficticious and the real world, Daniel accidentally kills the sheriff's girlfriend, and the cook and his son flee from Twisted River, knowing the constable will forgive neither the man nor the boy.

Both Daniel and Dominic manage to settle for years before the sheriff tracks them down, each time upsetting the tentative lives they have managed to build for themselves, causing them to lose friends and loved ones over and over again. Informed and warned by their old friend Ketchum, who remains in Twisted River, they live with the constant threat of the sheriff's violent revenge. Consequently, there is not much happiness in their lives. While they both encounter quite a few women, there is little love in their relationships. Most women in the book are inconsequential, and if they're not, they're almost comically oversized, mean or mad. Daniel becomes a writer, dedicating his life to re-imagining the darkest moments and biggest fears of his past. The reader soon realises just how similar Daniel's life and fiction are, although the people close to him always notice a curious detachment. It soon becomes clear that an ageing Daniel has still to write his own story. (And once again, metafiction rears its ugly head...)

As a writer, Daniel offers some insight into the art of fiction writing: "So called real people are never as complete as wholly imagined characters". Nevertheless, Irving's style made it difficult for me to fully imagine the characters in the book. It may be because of the meandering plot, which is mixed with lenghthy descriptions of the logging process, recipes and hunting trips, which can make the plot hard to follow. Also, the novel is in parts curiously devoid of feeling. Events are described rather than felt, and some characters seem rather cold and lifeless.

Make no mistake though: Last Night in Twisted River is a very good novel, one that stays with you and makes you ponder life, fate and, in part, politics. It's beautifully written, and the fact that I can write a lengthy review about it after a series of short, inconsequential books that left me with nothing to say surely proves its worth.