John Irving's Last Night In Twisted River is a perfectly constructed novel that functions as both a sweeping epic and a commentary on the nature of truth. Those just looking for an entertaining story of a man and his son will be pulled into this tale filled with colorful characters that spans 5 decades. But, those looking for something deeper will find an interesting probe into the question of truth and the effect of lies on the course of ones life. This novel has everything you have come to expect from Irving, sexual dysfunction, non-liner story-telling, unconventional heroins, and bears. It also has the feeling of a man reflecting on a long life lived.
On the surface Last Night In Twisted River is a moving story of a single father doing his best to raise a son after tragically losing his wife. The story starts in a small lumber community in the 50's and moves through the years till present day. Along the way we meet a number of colorful characters that help to tell the tale of the relationship between the two men. In typical Irving style, the characters are amazingly real in their absurdity, a quality that gives the story both depth and heart. As outlandish as some of the characters actions and the stories events may get, never once does the novel feel silly or unreal. It's a line that Irving has mastered years ago and still paints with perfection. The characters of Last Night In Twisted River live up any of his classics and, if anything, feel more personal.
What makes Last Night In Twisted River an exceptional novel though is the deeper level that the book dives for. While the surface story is of a man and his son, what Irving seems to be truly exploring is the idea of truth and its role in storytelling. Irving addresses the question he must have faced a million times over the years, "how much of this novel is autobiographical?" The main character, Daniel Baciagalupo, is an author who uses the strange events of his life and the characters he has met in his novels. While Daniel insists that his stories are fiction he has created with his imagination, his father and close family friend always see what they think are the real events. To make the question of truth even deeper, the works of Daniel mirror the career of Irving himself. Irving seems to be admitting that there is a kernel of truth in every story that is written or told, but that truth is ultimately twisted and filtered to a point that it stops being truth sometimes to disastrous effects. Irving isn't trying to answer the question as much as comment on the price of asking the question in the first place.
Last Night In Twisted River is a fantastic read. It is able to deliver on whatever level of reading you want to approach it with. It's entertaining, it's provocative, it's leaves you both satisfied and thinking. If this novel is any example, Irving is still very much on the top of his game.
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