There are a bunch of heavyweight novelists bringing out books in time for the Christmas rush this year: Philip Roth, Margaret Atwood, Paul Auster, Orham Pamuk and now John Irving whose latest Last Night in Twisted River gets this lukewarm reception from the NYT’s Michiko Kakutani: “Last Night in Twisted River” showcases all of John Irving’s biggest liabilities as a writer: a tricked-up, gimmicky plot; cartoony characters; absurd contrivances; cheesy sentimentality; and a thoroughly preposterous ending. And yet, at the same time, it evolves into a deeply felt and often moving story — a story that with some diligent editing might have ranked right up there with “The World According to Garp” (1978) and “A Widow for One Year” (1998) as one of Mr. Irving’s more powerful works.” There’s also an interview with Irving in The New Statesman. I quite like his response to this question:

How do you start a novel?
With the last sentence. Every novel of mine began with a last sentence, and not even the punctuation in those 12 last sentences changed. The first couple of times that happened to me, I thought it was an oddity. I didn’t recognise it as a habit, nor would I have labelled it a “process”. But then I came to recognise that this is the way my mind works.

Related posts:

1. Video: John Irving at the NYT
2. William Dalrymple, The Last Mughal, John Matshikiza
3. John Updike on John Cheever
4. In Book News This Week: Sarah Palin, Harry Potter, Philip Roth, John Keats and John Le Carre
5. 12th Time of the Writer: Opening Night (Now with Added Audio)