Thank you NetGalley for a preview of this book.

I typically enjoy John Irving novels, but not this one. I struggled to care about the story or characters. That might be on me and not a default of the book. I might try it again at another time.

I typically love long books, and the premise to this one sounded great, but it was much too long and overwritten.

I wrote a long review for this book and submitted it but it seems to have vanished because this book was still listed as unreviewed on my shelf so the following is my best effort to recollect what I wrote the first time around)

I am of two minds about this book. On the one hand the characters grew on me and I became invested enough in their story to finish the book, which is no small feat given that it’s an almost interminable 900+ pages. On the other hand this book feels more like a collection of related vignettes than a cohesive story. In fact, Irving spends so much time repeating himself and reminding us what happened in previous chapters that it begs the question whether these vignettes are even supposed to be read together. In addition, many of these vignettes revolve around often preposterous once-in-a-lifetime events that seem to regularly befall this one family: two sisters have simultaneous heart attacks, their husbands drive off a cliff, two shootings by two separate unhinged stalkers, two people freeze to death, one has a heart attack while trying to freeze to death, three people fall off chairlifts, two get squished by a train during an avalanche. This must either be be the world’s most tragic or unluckiest family. Not sure if this is Irving’s style, since this is my first book by him, but he really loves to give characters nicknames based on their defining characteristic (little snowshoer, diaper man) but doesn’t really delve into the nuance of what makes these people tick. Nor is there much authorial love or empathy for these people as he spends the first half of this book having a lot of fun at the expense of the size, shape, disability, injury, and even dementia of his characters. I was waiting for some sort of big thematic point about all the “big” girls and “little” men but nothing ever materialized. Overall this book is an over-indulgent mess that could have used a good editor but despite all that parts of it felt quite personal and resonated with me.

If you enjoy John Irving you will love this. A bit long, but full of what makes him special. It was a pleasure to receive an ARC of this courtesy of the publisher.

John Irving has been one of my favorite authors for a long time. I remember reading The World According to Garp when I was in my 20s and knowing I'd found an author I would follow. And for many years I did. He slipped off my radar for some reason a few years ago so I was excited to see this, his first book in seven years.

This is the life of Adam Brewster. It begins in early childhood with his skiing obsessed and mostly missing mother in New Hampshire and carries into late in his life living in Toronto. All along the way Adam is surrounded by interesting and somewhat quirky characters and although there are six main characters who are prominent, there are a number who sneak in and influence him in some way.

For the most part I thoroughly enjoyed riding along with Adam and his cast of characters on his life's journey. I do feel, however, that similarly to a few other established authors, editing was an afterthought. The story grabbed me from the beginning but it did drag a bit in places and at over 900 pages, I'm not surprised. If you're also an Irving fan, I think you'll enjoy this book. It has all the hallmarks of a good Irving novel: brilliant writing, unusual characters and a story line that captivates.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advance copy of this book for review. The publication date is October 18, 2022.

In classic John Irving fashion, this book was beautifully written, engaging, and drew me in almost immediately. The story follows Adam, a young man who was conceived of his "tiny mother" who was a ski racer and continued throughout his life to teach skiing, but in a fit of rebelliousness, Adam chose to never learn to ski properly. This was a beautiful tale of wonderful family drama, and I love John Irving. Though a long book [912 pages - yeesh!] it was wonderfully woven and continued to draw attention despite its length. We meet and are enchanted, as Adam grows and moves along in his life many different ghosts. Additionally, the cast of characters grows and changes and you cannot help but love Nora, Adam's interesting and wonderfully written cousin. I highly recommend this book, but understand that it is the sort of undertaking that requires a lot of time, as any 912 page book would do. However, I know that true John Irving fans are with me on this one, and it is definitely worth the time you invest into it.

This ebook was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

'There's more than one way to love people.'

The legendary John Irving does it again with his latest massive work of fiction covering the lifetime of one man, the writer Adam Brewster. He is the son of an unwed mother, Rachel, who is a skier and gone every winter, so Adam is mostly raised by his grandmother in the bosom of their extended family in Exeter, New Hampshire. Adam has a very unconventional family and through them, he learns to be very accepting of the many ways to live life and express love. 'We have to be who we are--we can only do what we do', says his mother Ray. The name of Adam's father is her closely guarded secret: 'Everything [is] about sex and secrets.' Irving has been called 'a visionary voice on the subject of sexual tolerance' and it shows in the subject matter of this novel--'fabulous fiction with a social conscience.'

The novel is not an easy read: it is extremely long, it is repetitive, with the story frequently circling around and back. Adam Brewster loves the use of semicolons in his writing and so obviously does John Irving himself. In fact, there seems to he a lot of John in his character, Adam--both born in 1942, raised in Exeter, New Hampshire, both became wrestlers and, I assume, skiers. It's interesting to look for these comparisons in the story.

John Irving, at 80, has supposedly said this is his last long novel. I can understand that. As my dad used to say, 'At my age, I don't even buy green bananas.' So if that is the case, this is an epic novel to treasure from a great master.

I received an arc of novel from the author and publisher via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own. It is a great honor to read and review a novel from a favorite author.

An Anthem For Our Times

The Last Chairlift isn’t a perfect novel. In fact, it is an awful mess at times. But it speaks to me, and it moves me.

Don’t read the book blurb. It doesn’t accurately describe The Last Chairlift.

So what is The Last Chairlift about?

Well….if it was easy to explain, the book blurb would be more accurate, but I’ll do my best....

On the surface, The Last Chairlift is about Adam’s life. He is born to an unwed single mother, Little Ray. He grows up with an eclectic family including a grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We follow Adam through his life including how he navigates the sexual politics of those he loves and also his journey to discover the identity of his father.

At first glance, The Last Chairlift is horrible. It is character driven, and it doesn’t have a strong plot. It should have been broken up into various books as it is almost 1,000 pages. Some of the topics aren’t that interesting (like wrestling…snooze fest). About 25% of the book is a screenplay which just doesn’t work (if you are really interested in a mixed media book that works check out Maddie Mortimer’s Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies).

There are also many, many similarities with A Prayer for Owen Meany. Adam even lives on Front Street with his grandmother, the exact same street as in A Prayer for Owen Meany. John Irving is a talented enough writer to create a different setting for The Last Chairlift.

So all of that sounds awful right? Why in the world did you rate this book 5 stars? Have you lost your mind?

Probably. But that’s beside the point.

The Last Chairlift felt like home: the little snowshoer, the little English teacher, Little Ray, the ski patroller, Em, Matthew, Adam, Nora. These characters will stay with me for a long time.

The Last Chairlift feels like what Lessons by Ian McEwan should have been. Irving was able to elevate Adam’s problems from just Adam’s life to societal problems as a whole. The Last Chairlift is much more than just the troubles of one man.

But let’s talk about the symbolism, the deeper meanings of the book.

In The Last Chairlift, Adam talks about editing his book, that when you put forth your work, you can’t be afraid of ruffling a few feathers.

He also talks about his small hands. It reminds me of the song by Avicii, Wake Me Up.
“I tried carrying the weight of the world
But I only have two hands.”

Adam is one person. He wants to make changes in the world, but how much can one person do?

In the book, there are two characters who don’t speak: the grandfather and Em, the pantomimist. This really moved me. Aren’t there a whole bunch of people just talking, talking away? Isn’t that essentially Twitter? A whole bunch of people just talking and no one listening. In fact, these days corporations direct us to chat bots and to leave voicemails that will never be returned. Why try to engage when no one is listening? People just don’t try anymore. They retreat.

Em is incredibly interesting, and she has Nora who “interprets” her pantomime. However, Nora is not always faithful in representing Em’s thoughts. How many voiceless people groups are out there? Many groups have an advocate, but that message being conveyed by the advocate might become garbled or not truly represent the underlying voiceless or powerless group.

There is an event that happens, and Adam shows great bravery. However, the press doesn’t consider Adam a hero. For all of the people advocating for others without a voice or power, should they just give up? Even if they are successful, they usually don’t get any credit, and they don’t even know if what they are doing is working.

One of the characters in The Last Chairlift is Jasmine. She is one of Adam’s girlfriends. She is always calling her ex-boyfriends/husbands on the phone and chewing them out. Why was she in the book? Have you ever been caught up on something? You just can’t move past it. Is that our country? Is that our society? Are we caught up on the past so that we can’t move forward?

In The Last Chairlift, there is also a lot of piggybacking between two characters. At one crucial moment, one character carries the other. Is that what we, as a society, need to do? Do we need to carry each other?

*Thanks, NetGalley, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and honest opinion.

My Thoughts:
I finally finished The Last Chairlift (yeah) with 912 pages it took awhile.
You will either like this or not. This author has been writing for awhile now so when I seen this on netgalley I had to read it not knowing it was 912 pages. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it wasn’t as long I kept having to take a break which would cause me to forget so I am sure I missed a lot of the story sadly. I might go back and re-read some of it but Saying all that if you have the time this book is a interesting story filled with a bit of everything from politics to ghost and Love.
Thanks @netgalley for letting me read this.

John Irving is my most favorite author in the world because he is a master storyteller. This book is what you expect from him - a complex story with deeply interesting characters and many themes, characters, places and events we know, expect or hope for: We have a woman who has a child out of wedlock, women who refuse to speak, war, politics, death, gender identity, diversity in body types, writers (plural!), wrestling, god, Vienna (but more so Germany), family, violence, aging, love, son/mother relationships, bizarre yet normal/comforting family dynamics and complicated and authentic love issues. There was also something unexpected which was a major treat for me.

The story was great, the story telling excellent, such incredibly interesting main characters that will stay will me for a long time. Some 'scenes' with stay with me forever. I loved it but, yes there is a but, it's over 900 pages. For me that is too long. It's hard to be riveting and compelling for 900 pages, even if you're The Mr. John Irving. It's still a 5 to me but know it takes some effort at times but is worth it!

And a special thanks to Simon and Schuster who graciously and thankfully provided me with an advanced copy after I begged someone :)

There's little that Irving does that doesn't work, and this is no exception. Small town New England and wrestling, which he knows better than most. It's a little long, and parts of it drag, but in the end I was happy to have read it.

I can see why not everyone would love it, especially at so many pages. I think it would have been a 5-star book at 500 pages. Still, if you're an Irving fan, I would highly recommend it.

The characters were well-drawn, as his characters always are and there were plenty of quotable lines. I hope he still have more books in him, as the world continues to need literature from this classic American novelist.

The Last Chairlift is a 900+ page of delight for John Irving fans. It has all the Irving magic readers enjoy: small men, large women, complicated extended families, Exeter, wrestling, Toronto, writing, women's rights, politics, religion, and generations of zither players. The line that sums up the novel is spoken by Adam, the main character: "'There's a reason we're fiction writers, you know--real life sucks; make-believe is our business."

My fav author. Not my favorite book. Is there an editor in the house??? Would have been sooo much better at maybe 400 pages. Too fluffed and bloated.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this novel!

The Last Chairlift is John Irving's 15th novel and traces the life story of protagonist Adam Brewster through his childhood in New England, adult life as a writer in New York and Vermont, and his later years in Toronto, taking us through around 70 years of social and political history at the same time. It's a sprawling family saga that will have tons of familiar hallmarks if you're a regular Irving reader: Phillips Exeter, small-town New England, wrestling, absurd character deaths, LGBTQ representation, a writer protagonist, political commentary, etc.

All this to say, if you like John Irving's past books, you'll probably find something to like here too. The main ensemble cast consists of six characters for most of the book, and I found all but one of them (Little Ray, Adam's mom) to be likable. There are a LOT of character deaths in this, so much so that many of them don't have much of an emotional impact, but all the main ones hit effectively. Your mileage may vary, but as someone who likes Irving's writing style overall, the writing was generally easy and pleasant to read.

By far the biggest issue with this novel was simply the length (Goodreads lists the upcoming hardcover release at 912(!) pages-my Kindle didn't track page count in my ARC). The ARC opens with a glowing letter from John Irving's editor which I found sort of ironic because if the book is 900 pages it seems hard to imagine that there was much editing going on. The novel took me about two weeks to get through (I finished three other books I was reading concurrently during this span) because of just how bloated it was-plot-wise it feels like there's a good deal that could have been trimmed or eliminated. The two longest chapters in the book (which I think are significantly longer, around 20% of the total novel according to my Kindle) are written in screenplay style (the reason for this is clear when you read the novel), and while I'm not sure how well it worked overall I did enjoy those sections just because it was something different to break up the length of the overall book.

I liked the novel overall, hence the three-star rating, and I think if you're a big Irving fan you'll probably find it worth the read; I've read about 2/3rds of his books and been mixed on them but this one does remind me more of the ones I've liked (Cider House, In One Person, Owen Meaney) than the ones I didn't. The length aside, it's an interesting story; I'm just not sure we needed quite as much of it as we got.

This was my first book by John Irving and it will be my last. The story sounded interesting enough and I think overall it would have been if I could just get into the writing style of the author. First of all, it is an extraordinarily long book (over 900 pages in print or 15,479 locations in a Kindle version). I don't mind long books if they hold my interest. But this book seems to be chock full of extraneous information and stories that seem to have little if any bearing to the main story. I just could not stay with it. I read about 25% of the book and then skipped to the last 2 chapters to see how it ended and then stopped reading. I know that this author is very well respected and several of my friends love his writing style. It just isn't for me. And that's ok. We don't all have to like the same things. Read through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A love letter to the old ski school. Irving has managed to capture to lure of the slopes and the changes that have kept the sport thriving. It’s early Aspen in the days where love was all around and you followed the snow. Sex was unemcumbered, the writer of this tale is illegitimate, a familiar thread. The search for who he is is bound by who was his father. It a little torment for the ghostly reward of triumph.

As usual, John Irving has peopled his novel with characters both memorable and weird, as well as likeable. The main character is Adam, and we follow him from boyhood into old age as he observes and interacts with family and friends. This feels like familiar territory, with many of Irving's past novels coming to mind: the New England setting, prep school, wrestling, complicated parent relationships, comedic misadventures. The gender and sexuality issues are certainly of current interest, as is the political undercurrent. While the plot moves along because of the interesting characters and scenarios, this novel is even longer than Irving's other favorites, and at times seemed endless.

John Irving’s The Last Chairlift is overly long and could have benefitted from some judicious editing. There are glimpses, here, of the brilliant and captivating writing Irving showed he was capable of in his earlier works - The World According to Garp, The Cider House Rules, The Hotel New Hampshire, to name a few of my favorites. But mostly, this is a slog to get through, with so much filler and extraneous material thrown in that the thread of the story gets lost for pages at a time. There are big themes here, an Irving hallmark, and some really good writing, but it is mostly lost in too much prose, too much digression. A disappointing novel from a great novelist.

A huge book with an even bigger heart. I love John Irving's ability to reach inside us and pull on our heartstrings. There are so many characters to love in this book. His character's ability to fit in to society's ideals or rise above them is what always makes a John Irving book special. It will stay with you long after you finish.

John Irving
The Last Chairlift

Wow, the President and CEO of Simon and Schuster attested that this novel was among one of his personal favorites of Irving’s. It’s been seven years since Irving wrote a novel and of course, all his fans should be chomping at the bit once his novel hits the airwaves. The story involves ghosts, a cross-dresser, lesbian couples, transgender, dysfunctional families, life, death, and sex. Alas- everything the world is made up of.

Yes, I’ve read several, but not all of Irving’s fifteen novels. I’ve enjoyed them and would admit that he is an extremely creative storyteller, with crazy plots and themes. I was very excited to read this novel, even though it contains 53 long chapters and 900+ pages. I did not shy away and read every word. Oh, then the trepidation set in for me as to how I would review this book. I’m not one to usually write negative reviews, as I know how difficult it is to write a novel. However, the final conclusion I came to was I just wasn’t a fan of the story and would not be able to recommend the book to anyone. Don’t get me wrong, it was imaginative and there were some very well-written and thoughtful parts. But overall it was too long and some of the scenes turned my stomach. Ending on a positive note, the novel did seem to convey to me that love is a vital element in having a fulfilled and happy life.