The Last Chairlift

By John Irving

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

One of the world’s greatest novelists returns with his first novel in seven years—a ghost story and a love story, spanning eight decades of sexual politics.

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. TIME magazine describes his work as “epic and extraordinary and controversial and sexually brave.” Now Irving has written what he calls his last long novel—only shorter ones ahead.
     In Aspen, Colorado, in 1941, Rachel Brewster is a slalom skier at the National Downhill and Slalom Championships. Little Ray, as she is called, finishes nowhere near the podium, but she manages to get pregnant. Back home, in New England, Little Ray becomes a ski instructor. Her son, Adam, grows up in a family that defies conventions and evades questions concerning the eventful past. Years later, looking for answers, Adam will go to Aspen. In the Hotel Jerome, where he was conceived, Adam will meet some ghosts; they aren’t the first or the last ghosts he sees.
     If you’ve never read a John Irving novel, you’ll be captivated by storytelling that is tragic and comic, embodied by characters you’ll remember long after you’ve finished their story. If you have read John Irving before, you’ll rediscover the themes that made him a bard of alternative families—a visionary voice on the subject of sexual freedom. The author’s favourite tropes are here, but this meticulously plotted novel has powerful twists in store for readers. The Last Chairlift breaks new artistic ground for Irving, who has been called “among the very best storytellers at work today” (The Philadelphia Inquirer); “the American Balzac” (The Nation); “a pop star of literature, beloved by all generations” (Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich); and “the voice of social justice and compassion in contemporary American literature” (The Globe and Mail). With The Last Chairlift, readers will once again be in John Irving’s thrall.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Oct 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9780735276208

John Irving

John Irving has been nominated for a National Book Award three times—winning in 1980 for the novel The World According to Garp. In 1992, Irving was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He won the 2000 Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules. In 2001, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Irving's most recent novel is In One Person (2012).

Reviews for The Last Chairlift

[dwcofer_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a difficult book to review, especially without including spoilers, which I will not do. Despite a few issues with the book, to be discussed later, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, despite the 900 page length. This book took me twice as long to read as compared to most books I read. Without a doubt, this is the longest book I have ever read. It is bloated (more on that later) and could have been improved by cutting several hundred pages.The story follows Adam, the son of Rachel (known simply as “Ray” and “Little Ray”) an unwed mother, in a coming of age story. Adam struggles at time to make sense of the world around him, which is not “normal,” by any standard. His mother is involved in a lesbian relationship with Molly, both before and after she marries Elliot Barlow, who later becomes a transsexual after his marriage to Ray. There are many gender reversals and much queerness in the novel, but not in an offensive sense.Adam seeks his roots in the Hotel Jerome, where he was conceived by his 17 year old mother with a 14 year old boy. Adam sees ghosts of his past ancestors and others, and eventually makes his way back to meet his biological father and have sex with his father’s wife. Like I said, there is a lot of strange behavior like this in the book. It seems almost everyone has an open sexual relationship with others. There is much death in the book. I won’t spoil it by revealing the characters who die, but they are major characters. Some of the deaths are rather gruesome as well.Irving did a magnificent job with the character development. I was drawn to the characters as if they were real. The dialogue is also distinct between the characters so I knew who was speaking, even without the dialogue tags. Kudos to Irving for that.I had several issues with the book. One is the length. It is several hundred pages too long. The book is dense and takes a while to read. If a few hundred pages were cut, the book would be much improved. There are two 100 page chapters, each consisting of a screen play. The screen play is relevant to the overall plot, but mixing prose and a screen play in the same book was jarring. The two screen plays should have been told as prose and would have reduced the length of the book as well.The other issue is a character’s name. Elliot’s mother is called both Susan and Sarah. I think the Sarah reference is a mistake (pages 107 and 108) as all other references to her are as Susan. This is something an editor should have caught.I thoroughly enjoyed the book; so much so I almost wished it had been 10,000 pages long as I hated for it to end. But it was bloated and too heavy as it was, so in its present form, it probably should have been 500 to 600 pages maximum. But despite the issues I have with the book, I still give it 5 full stars as the book is so good, the few nits I have are overcome by the strengths of the book. This is a must read!

[sleahey_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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.

[chasidar_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love John Irving's novels. Some are better than others and I think The Last Chairlift is one of his best. I didn't love everything about this book but all in all, it was wonderful.

[thevoice1208 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Very disappointing. This book needed extensive editing. It was like Irving just did a brain dump of ideas, including a screenplay.

[josephking6602 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Good writing, but the story line took too long to gain any traction with me; i was disappointed withthis book by an author i usually like.

[shazjhb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have a live/hate relationship with this book. It was poorly edited firstly as so many things and events were repeated. The movie plots should not have been in the book. This book has every gender/relationship/sexual orientation/romance that could possibly exist. And the there were the ghosts. The review of politics was very interesting. You cannot help but love the crazy characters. However, a 600 page book would still have been too long.