I was very excited when I was approved for this book on Netgalley. It is the first book by John Irving I have read and he is a highly acclaimed author. Turned out to be a massive tome of almost 1000 pages. The story follows the life of Adam Brewster as he navigates his way through the women in his world. And there are a lot of women to navigate for sure. Starting with his single mom Rachel Ray Brewster, the Moby-Dick obsessed grandmother, Mom's trans-husband Elliott Barlow, Ray's love the indomitable Molly, his cousin Nora, the lovable Em, a host of incompatible girlfriends and finally his wife Grace. I loved them all. I really enjoyed the initial part of the book which was like a coming-of-age story. Thereafter I skimmed through bits, especially the parts written as screenplay. I persevered to the end though. This is not a book to read if you love thrillers or fast stories. It is not even a book with any real story This is a book to be read in slow motion, soaking the prose and the meandering narrative. I suspect the book is semi-autobiographical (seems to be a trend nowadays with authors in their advanced years). Parallelly, the book also deals with the politics of the sixties especially surrounding the Vietnam War and the prejudices of gender and sexuality. Definitely curious how this would sound as an audiobook or maybe a movie!!

Thank you Netgalley, Simon & Schuster and John Irving for the privilege of an ARC.

John Irving never disappoints. Eccentric characters exceptionally well-developed. This is a tale of a young man seeking more than just the identity of his birth father. He is peeling away the layers of the past to reveal where he has come from, where he is now, and where he may choose to go.

I was a huge John Irving fan but his last book and now this one have ended it for me; this book is so bad that if I didn't know better I would swear that someone else had written it and just slapped his name on the cover.

Brilliant Reboot of Irving’s Theme of Tolerance

There is no author like John Irving, his often-shocking characters, unmanageable plots and affection for those of us who are different. It’s a monster of a novel in length, over 900 pages. I stopped reading a few times and then felt I was disrespectful to Irving and plowed ahead.

Once again, the plot focuses on wrestling, a fatherless boy with a strong mother, on a quest to find his father and deal with his obsession. However, it is not “The World According to Garp” or “The Cider House Rules”, which endeared me to Irving’s quirky characters in powerful prose.

It's the story of Adam, an illegitimate child born to Little Ray, a ski instructor who never attained an Olympic medal. Adam is small in stature with very small hands that are emphasized quite often by his mother and aunts. Adam grows up to be a novelist but finds greater success writing screenplays. This is a dense novel that is often repetitive in characterizations. Apparently, this is Irving’s swan song, and he includes uncomfortable scenes. Adam recalls sleeping in one bed with his mother and loves it. It is not sexual, but I wasn’t sure.

A first-time Irving reader will be introduced to Irving’s favorite themes: wrestling, sexual intolerance and suppression. Despite Adam’s longing to know the identity of his father, he is raised by caring, intelligent women who support his ambitions but are critical and protective of him at the same time.

The time span in this giant novel ranges from the end of World War II to the Trump era. The recycled issues revolve around sexual connections, sometimes conventional and other times, uproariously funny. This is not an easy book to read, it is often sad and scary. I recommend any Irving book, but to really understand this master, read “The World According to Garp” first.

My gratitude to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this pre-published book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance ecopy. of this title. Many years after I read "A Prayer for Owen Meany" and "Cider House Rules," I still remember the engrossing prose and sweeping stories that drew me in and resonated for years. THIS IS NOT THAT! I began reading with such high hopes as I have previously loved everything Irving has written. The story begins with Adam, the illegitimate son of an avid skier. Adam lives with his mom (but not during ski season) and grandparents a stone's throw from Exeter where his grandfather was the principal before turning mute. It is the 1950s, and the mystery of who his father is seems to be the trajectory of the story. It goes off the rails with WAY TO MANY TANGENTS and ALL THE SOCIAL ISSUES of the 20th century thrown against the wall to see what will stick!!! There is even an odd screenplay imbedded in the second half of the novel. The book is entirely TOO LONG, and after I while, I ceased caring about any of the characters. If you are or are not a fan of John Irving, do not read this book!

“When you love someone who’s different, you worry about them more-you’re always looking out for them.”

I don’t think any review I may write could do this book justice. The Cider House Rules and The Hotel New Hampshire are two of my favorite reads. I love John Irving’s storytelling style and that his books are near where I live.

This monolith comes in at over 900 pages, so it won’t be a quick read. Heavily character driven, with a meandering style of storytelling, it can take some time to get used to how the book unfolds. Sometimes, screenplay takes up portions of the chapters, which can range from 11 minutes long to 44 minutes, which can be maddening when you’re trying to find a place to stop. I didn’t much care for the screenplay portions of the story; they didn’t work for me.

The characters are what work. Adam’s family, both the ones he was born with and the ones he’s added over time, are truly special. It is in their nicknames, their actions, and their words that you come to love every one of them. We take a veritable walk through history through Adam and the eyes of the loved ones intertwined with each moment we traverse. We get an intimate look from the Vietnam War to Regan, the AIDS epidemic, and beyond.

“Not even the people you love in your own family tell you everything, and there are always the things you miss.”

I think that’s all I can really say. This is such a beautiful read. Have patience; it won’t go where you think it will and not at the pace you imagine. I read it deliciously slowly because it gave me time to absorb every moment. Thank you, Simon & Schuster, for sending this along.

There are 3 main things that prevented me from rating this higher. It is too long (900+). I don't mind long books, when it is necessary. It was not. The second, I don't love series or sequels generally for a reason - too much repetition. Well this stand-alone felt at times like parts were a sequel due to all the repetition. If you are going to publish something this long, trust your readers that they can handle it - the repetition was just a chore to get through (and helped make it too long). Lastly, I didn't care for the parts that were the script. Otherwise, this was a character driven novel that true Irving fans will likely love. Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for my advance e-copy in exchange for my honest opinion. The Last Chairlift will be available on 10/18/22.

The Last Chairlift, by John Irving

Short Take: It’s probably me, not you, Mr. Irving. But I think we need a break.

(*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*)

Well Duckies, after nearly three years of avoiding it, I managed to catch covid. I’ve had all four vaccinations, so it’s not terrible, but it’s also making me quite tired, so I’m going to keep this one short.

I’ve been a fan of John Irving since my college days, when I discovered Garp and the Hotel New Hampshire, and A Prayer For Owen Meany is one of the best books I’ve ever read in any genre. So when Netgalley approved me for an advance copy of The Last Chairlift, I was over the moon. I cleared my schedule, loaded my kindle, and prepared to settle into the kind of warm bliss that only a charming novel from a beloved author could bring.

Alas, it was not to be, and I am saddened and ashamed to admit that I only made it to the halfway point before giving up on this one. And I don’t know if it is that the book just doesn’t work the way his older ones do, or if I just don’t have the patience for him anymore, but there was just more that I didn’t like than I can remember in any of his books before.

For starters, the narrator (Adam) is so so so repetitive, and fixated on using twee nicknames for the people around him instead of their names. So his stepfather Elliot is “the snowshoer” or “the little english teacher” (Elliot is very short, which is important for reasons), his mother Rachel is Little Ray, his dementia-addled grandfather is the Diaper Man, and so on. It’s just obnoxious after a point, especially when, for example, Elliot hasn’t been snowshoeing in a few hundred pages.

Next: the obsession with “small”. Adam’s mother has a definite fetish for men who are petite, or, more accurately, for barely pubescent boys, up to and including her own son. Mr. Irving’s families are often quirky and open about sex to an uncomfortable degree with each other, but I guess for me, a mother straddling and kissing her teenage son - with tongue - is just a bridge too far.

And speaking of sex… it’s a given that there will be at least one uncomfortable scene in a John Irving book. I’ve never been upset by them, because they are usually funny, poignant, or some mix of the two. Not so in Chairlift. Adam decides early on that he doesn’t want to date a girl who he might get overly attached to, so he only goes out with girls that he feels sorry for (read: better than). These encounters invariably end with the girl utterly humiliated, and maybe it’s supposed to be funny? Maybe it would have been if it were a one-time thing, but it’s an ongoing thing with Adam, and it’s decidedly unfunny and pretty gross.

While I’m on the subject of unfunny, that was the last straw for me. There was none of Mr. Irving’s trademark humor. This book is a grim, cheerless slog, and it feels like my favorite ornery uncle has gone full Q-anon and now just wants to rail against… something.

There’s more to the story, sort of, as Adam tries to find out who his father is, and wrestles with the (sometimes literal) ghosts of his past, and there’s some really fascinating commentary on the LGBTQ community in the 70’s. But it’s all so buried in endless Moby-Dick discussion, nicknames, the word “small” (dear god I’ve never been so sick of a single word), everything I’ve never wanted to know about wrestling, and so many gross bodily function scenes - did someone force-feed the author a copy of Everybody Poops?

I really wish I could have loved this book. I don’t know whether it’s the book, or if I’m just not smart enough to appreciate it.

The Nerd’s Rating: TWO HAPPY NEURONS (and some more popsicles, please.)

Full of a super close Mother-son relationship, a closer relationship with his maternal grandmother, very close friendship with a female cousin, a friend lost in Vietnam, and a New England setting, this gave me fairly strong reminders of A Prayer for Owen Meany while still being its own magnificent story.

The Last Chairlift is ultimate Irving. Besides being his first novel in 7 years, this is his self-proclaimed last long novel and fans will feast on it. This is a nice lengthy novel, with nearly 16 hours of reading time; for that reason I recommend this title in audio book format; I think I would have enjoyed my reading of this even more if I had been able to get some miles in on the treadmill while reading.

This title is a must for Irving devotees but I probably wouldn’t recommend new readers begin with it.

Thank you to #SimonandSchuster and #NetGalley for the digital ARC of #TheLastChairlift.

I've read and enjoyed several John Irving novels. In fact, A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of my all time favorites. So I was excited to get an advanced copy of his latest book. Unfortunately, I was really disappointed and DNF'd around 50%.

There are so many similarities with his other novels - only child/boy, independent mother, absent/unnamed father, lots of quirky characters, New England setting, LGBTQ themes, wrestling. While I found most of the characters moderately interesting, the various nick names for each character got really annoying along with the shifting between time periods. When the main character - a writer - name checked John Irving (come on!) and I realized I still had 450+ more pages to go, I just couldn't go on.

I know there are rabid John Irving fans who will love this book. I'm just not one of them.

Thank you Simon & Schuster for the gift of The Last Chairlift. Let me start.. yeah it's long. umm have you read other Irving? He takes his time letting you get into his world, his characters' lives, and he goes on tangents and weaves and it all comes together., it feels very much like you live in the world he creates and like any world it is filled with unexpected paths and characters and little sideways dips into backstories and events/people that all come together if you sit with it.
If you don't like long books then take a pass. If you are a fan of Irving you know that this is character driven work with themes on coming of age, identity, loving but complicated family and relationships, and a quest to understand the self in a constantly shifting world. I loved it, took my time with it throughout Sept and Oct, and am glad I could read at that pace.

I promise, as the editor's note states the meaning of the title and cover, of Adam's story, and the length of the story all do come together.

I wanted to enjoy, or at least appreciate this book. John Irving is one of the masters of the contemporary novel, and I had heard so many raves about this novel that I expected it to be profound and brilliant.

And maybe it is profound and brilliant, but it really, really, really isn't the novel for me. I found the writing verbose and vague. The coarseness with which Irving treats his characters, especially their physical differences, was off-putting, and the sheer length of the book means that any payoff or purpose is hundreds of pages later. The numerous scenes of physical and sexual humiliation - some of which seem intended as humor - were the final straw. I read only a quarter of this book - over two hundred pages - which was more than enough.

When I downloaded my ARC of The Last Chairlift I felt as if Christmas had come early with ten trees and the attendant presents. I was exhausted when I finished opening all of Irving’s gifts. I think for most of his life, John Irving has been a gift to those who read him; sometimes puzzling, sometimes generous, always loving.
I can immediately think of three Irving books that are on many people’s top ten list, or said to be the most influential book they have read, or the book of their generation. I’m not sure where The Last Chairlift will fit into these accolades. First off, readers might be defeated by the size, or some of the oddities of writing, or even the eccentricities of many of the characters.
I give this book as an easy five stars. All of the possible negatives above I mention, they are all part of the charm of The Last Chairlift.
Adam Brewster is born to a competitive slalom skier, Little Ray. Little Ray is a young single mother, a mother from an old family in Exeter, NH; a mother who will not divulge the identity of Adam’s father. The search for Adams father becomes a central theme of Adams life.
Adam’s grandmother mostly raises Adam as Little Ray goes north every winter to work as a ski instructor with her best friend, Molly, a ski patroller. He also has unpleasant aunts but lovely uncles and a few cousins-one of whom, Nora, becomes one of his closest friends and central to his life.
Elliot Barlow, Adam’s beloved small English teacher, stepfather, and eventual book editor is another character who becomes central to Adam’s life. I will always love Elliot Barlow. Possibly one of the loveliest, and loyal characters I have read of in years.
Adam sees ghosts. He sees them often and strongly, whether he is home or visiting the luxurious and venerable Hotel Jerome in Aspen. Adam goes to the Hotel Jerome looking for his past. Others in his life see the same ghosts, most do not. The scenes of Adam reading children's stories to the ghosts of the Hotel Jerome were tremendously touching.
John Irving is also an award winning screenwriter, so it makes perfect sense the Aspen scenes of this book are presented as a screenplay. Perfect sense, but a touch difficult to get used to as a reader. Then I shudder to think about how much longer the book would be without this device and I am fine with it. The screenplay scenes also help blunt some of the more emotional moments, yes, this can be good.
This book covers 80 years, so people die. Irving writes of death better than any other writer I have read. Sometimes in The Last Chairlift , it is shocking and heartbreaking, sometimes so very tender and gentle. Sometimes both. There is always a bit of foreshadowing so that one is not caught totally unprepared as has happened in Irving’s other books. Sobbing, smiling, sometimes at the same time. Yeah, Irving can write about death. He writes just as tenderly of love, the other side of the coin.
Irving is also a master of the comic, of the zany. He believes that humor is one way we can console ourselves. However, when he delves into horror of the AIDS crisis, he has to forgo his humor. He makes up for it with his empathy and his rage.
Irving revisits the horrors of the 1980’s, a time of unmitigated tragedy at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. President Reagan’s inability to admit the deadly disease even existed helped the epidemic to explode. Irving writes the most graphic and explicit descriptions of the deaths,both the physical and emotional, that I have ever read. It's difficult not to turn away from the pages. Don’t. Just don’t. He also writes of the people who refused to recognize reality, people who would only admit to AIDS as God’s punishment for homosexuality.
So here we come to it, the sexual politics of The Last Chairlift . There are gay characters, some lovely gay and queer characters who die for their lifestyles. There there is a transgendered character as glorious a character as Garp’s Roberta. There is a married couple, one a self-hating gay and the other a self-hating homosexual, with a gay daughter, Em, who stops speaking and becomes a pantomimist because of shock and heartbreak over the behavior of her parents. There is a comedy show in NY where Adam’s cousin Nora acts as the translator for Em, her girlfriend.
Parts of The Last Chairlift are disturbing. As in Garp, Adam is conceived through the rape of his father. This remains unacknowledged in both books. Understandable in Garp because this was the 1970’s, not so understandable here.
I also found it troubling how long Adam sleeps with his mother, although there was nothing of a sexual nature about it. Maybe I am jealous, maybe I still miss having the comfort and feeling of a parent lying next to you or child clinging to your back. Or, maybe it really is a very weird family dynamic with Little Ray and Adam.
I look at this review, then I remember the reviews I have read. It is almost as if each of us is reviewing a different book. The Last Chairlift is so massive in size, so epic in scope, it would be almost impossible to review the same book. I apologize for all I have left out, go read the other reviews. If you are a fan of John Irving or intrigued or intrepid enough to read this book, you will understand, you will be rewarded, and you will be left shaking your head.
One last thing, I still have no plan to read Moby Dick. Ever.
My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Simon and Schuster for an ARC.
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Did The Last Chairlift have to be 912 pages? No way. Does it get to be 912 pages because John Irving is a total master at character development? Yes, yes it does.

I loved this book even though not everything worked for me. Irving created four characters that I will never forget: The Snowshoer, Little Ray, Molly and Jasmine. I want to tell you all about why I loved them, but no spoilers. They all leaped off the page.

The book's narrator Adam grows up in an unconventional, before-its-time blended family. Adam's mother, Little Ray, was a skier who didn't win medals, but ended up pregnant at 19. Ray left Adam at home with her parents (Irving was a little harsh on grandpa) while she taught ski lessons at the slope during the season. Adam does not know who his father is, which is one of the story's plot points.

The book is a family drama that tackles political topics without shoving an agenda down your throat. So refreshing.

If you like plot-based books, this one probably isn't for you. But if you like family dramas, great characters and fantastic writing, check it out. Don't let the length scare you. Yes, your kindle percentage will seem like its stuck. But just think of it as a Netflix series that you can take your time to get through. Or not. I read this in under a week.

I will say that I could have done without the three parts that were written like a movie script. I would have preferred it if Irving stuck to his prose.

4.5 stars.

Thank you to @simo and @netgalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Last Chairlift by John Irving is the much too-long story of Adam Brewster. Adam is born to a single mother who is obsessed with skiing. The story follows his life, which is filled with quirky and interesting characters. However, there is a lot of repetition that drags the story down.

The first thing you should know about "The Last Chairlift" is that John Irving is a natural storyteller. Second, don't start this novel or audiobook unless you have time--and plenty of patience. The book is more than 900 pages!

In exchange for your attention commitment, you get the story of Adam, a boy-turned-man who just wants to fit in, know who his dad is and what's ahead for him. He finds the perfect husband for his mom, Little Ray, a diehard skier who prefers snow slopes most of the year. Many years later, Adam travels to Aspen and the Hotel Jerome, where his mom says he has conceived. There he encounters ghosts past and present.

If you can stick with the plot, Irving begins to bring the pieces together. If you read between the lines, Adam makes a statement without words. So do other characters, like his grandfather who doesn't speak, his cousin's girlfriend and his lover Jasmine. It just takes so long to get to those parts. If you make it to the end, "The Last Chairlift" will leave you wondering, and believe it or not, wanting more.

The Last Chairlift by John Irving is the highly recommended, albeit long-winded, story of the life of Adam Brewster. This one is best for fans of Irving who will already be delighted to see a new novel.

Adam Brewster shares an account of his life in this first person narrative. In 1941 Adam Brewster's mother, Rachel (Ray) manages to get pregnant in Aspen, Colorado, at the National Championships where she was competing as a slalom skier. The Brewster's live in Exeter, Vermont where Ray is a ski instructor, but she leaves Adam with her mother and sisters during the ski season. His grandmother really raises Adam. All of Adam's family members are a progressive group of women and this is reflected in the plot. Basically, the is the story of Adam's life.

Certainly Irving covers all the topics that one expects him to cover in a novel. These topics include: New Hampshire, unusual mothers, absent fathers, writers, ghosts, prep schools, dysfunctional family relationships, wrestling, sexuality, politics, cultural changes, etc.. Following Adam's life from 1941 to the present, this is a novel that will celebrates unique families and the affection they share. It exhibits tolerance and understanding for those who are different.

The major drawback is that The Last Chairlift is simply too long. Honestly, this is a novel that will exasperate many reader because it is so rambling and the plot is weak. About a quarter of the novel is a screenplay written by Adam. This is really a novel for fans of Irving's writing. If you haven't read any of his novels, go back and start with The World According to Garp, A Prayer for Owen Meany, or Cider House Rules. Between the length and the repetition in the writing, many readers will want to pass this one. Irving has penned much better works, but he has said that this is his last long novel.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Simon and Schuster.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, Edelweiss, and Amazon.

I am a fan of John Irving, so I was very pleased to get this advance copy from NetGalley. I had no idea how long it was as I was reading on my kindle, but it should have been a tip off when I was reading and reading and reading and I was still only 40 %. I started at 1945 with little Ray and her illegitimate son that is as she describes, "her one and only". Little Ray refuses to tell anyone who the father is-she maintains she doesn't know his name (he was an anonymous kid in Aspen where she was skiing). Adam spends most of his childhood with Ray's parents-Nana and diaper man. Little Ray marries a man shorter than she is - a teacher at Exeter (the little snowshoer or the little English teacher) where she has grown up and her parents and sisters live. Their wedding was laugh out loud funny, complete with diaper man getting killed by lightning, the music provided by the zeipher player (mostly the theme from THE THIRD MAN), cousin Nora's girl friend's window rattling orgasm's , to name a few There are so many plots and subplots and politically motivated plots,(some borrowing from a PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANEY) that at times I think this could have been short stories. I can write no more without giving spoilers-its that kind of book.

Have read numerous of John Irving's novels and enjoyed them. This was definitely a long one. Unfortunately, I lost interest because of how slow paced and "wordy" this was. Memorable characters but...

A new book by John Irving? Yes, please. I was happy to be able to read this new novel because I have loved some of John Irving's ealier works: [book:A Prayer for Owen Meany|4473], [book:The World According to Garp|7069] and [book:The Cider House Rules|4687] were all great books. John Irving turns 80 this year - what an accomplishment to be releasing a new novel at age 80! This tome is 912 pages and follows the life of Adam Brewster.

I can't begin to explain this book, so you'll have to read the book blurb for a description. Suffice it to say the book is good, the characters are memorable and funny at times. There are ghosts in the story that some can see and others cannot. There are a lot of sexual politics and the characters are a mix of diverse gender identities. The book is character driven and the characters are fully developed so I felt immersed in their lives - and I think I have a better understanding of various gender identities because of that. This is not a traditional family Adam Brewster has spent his life with, but it is a family filled with love and caring. There is a screenplay within the book as well. One of the central themes was Adam's quest to find out who his father is and since his mother won't tell him, it's not an easy quest to undertake.

This book is very long and at times repetitive. Sometimes I was bored and other times I was interested. There is never any great action going on to keep me glued to the page, but yet there was something about the book that kept me reading. There is a screenplay within the book as well. One of the central themes was Adam's quest to find out who his father is and since his mother won't tell him, it's not an easy quest to undertake.

The Last Chairlife is not my favorite book by John Irving but I am glad I read it. Some of the characters will stay in my mind for along time. Thanks to Simon & Schuster through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on October 18, 2022.