One of the world's greatest novelists returns with his first novel in seven years - a ghost story, a love story, and a lifetime of sexual politics. For over fifty years, John Irving has written some of the most acclaimed books of our time - among them, The World According. to Garp, The Cider House Rules, A Prayer for Owen Meany and A Widow for One Year. Now Irving has written what he calls his last long novel - a family saga of seven decades, reflecting the tensions in our cultural and political landscape.
In Aspen, Colorado, in 1941, Rachel Brewster is a slalom skier at the National Downhill and Slalom Championships. Little Ray, as she is known, finishes nowhere near the podium, but she manages to get pregnant. Back home, in New England, Little Ray becomes a ski instructor, bringing up her son, Adam, in an unconventional family that evades questions concerning their eventful past. Years later, Adam goes to Aspen looking for answers.
In the Hotel Jerome, where he was conceived, Adam will meet some ghosts - in The Last Chairlift, not the first or the last ghosts he sees. First-time readers of John Irving will be captivated by storytelling that is tragic, comic, and peopled with characters you'll remember long after you turn the final page. Irving fans will rediscover the themes that made him the bard of alternative families and a visionary voice on the subject of sexual freedom.
This meticulously plotted novel has powerful twists in store for readers. The Last Chairlift breaks new artistic ground, the culmination of a lifetime dedicated to literature. Readers will once again find themselves in John Irving's thrall.
One of the world's greatest novelists returns with his first novel in seven years - a ghost story, a love story, and a lifetime of sexual politics. For over fifty years, John Irving has written some of the most acclaimed books of our time - among them, The World According. to Garp, The Cider House Rules, A Prayer for Owen Meany and A Widow for One Year. Now Irving has written what he calls his last long novel - a family saga of seven decades, reflecting the tensions in our cultural and political landscape.
In Aspen, Colorado, in 1941, Rachel Brewster is a slalom skier at the National Downhill and Slalom Championships. Little Ray, as she is known, finishes nowhere near the podium, but she manages to get pregnant. Back home, in New England, Little Ray becomes a ski instructor, bringing up her son, Adam, in an unconventional family that evades questions concerning their eventful past. Years later, Adam goes to Aspen looking for answers.
In the Hotel Jerome, where he was conceived, Adam will meet some ghosts - in The Last Chairlift, not the first or the last ghosts he sees. First-time readers of John Irving will be captivated by storytelling that is tragic, comic, and peopled with characters you'll remember long after you turn the final page. Irving fans will rediscover the themes that made him the bard of alternative families and a visionary voice on the subject of sexual freedom.
This meticulously plotted novel has powerful twists in store for readers. The Last Chairlift breaks new artistic ground, the culmination of a lifetime dedicated to literature. Readers will once again find themselves in John Irving's thrall.
