Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for The Last Chairlift by John Irving - Wait list

The Last Chairlift

by John Irving
Jacques Roy
Audiobook
0 of 1 copy available
Place a hold Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
0 of 1 copy available
John Irving's fifteenth novel is "powerfully cinematic" (The Washington Post) and "eminently readable" (The Boston Globe). The Last Chairlift is part ghost story, part love story, spanning eight decades of sexual politics.
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, he will go to Aspen. In the Hotel Jerome, where he was conceived, Adam will meet some ghosts; in The Last Chairlift, they aren't the first or last ghosts he sees.

John Irving has written some of the most acclaimed books of our time—among them, The World According to Garp and The Cider House Rules. A visionary voice on the subject of sexual tolerance, Irving is a bard of alternative families. In the "generously intertextual" (The New York Times) The Last Chairlift, readers will once more be in his thrall.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 18, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781797111230
      • File size: 944400 KB
      • Duration: 32:47:29

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 22, 2022
      This overblown and underplotted behemoth of a novel from Irving (The World According to Garp) follows the idiosyncratic journey to adulthood of Adam, an illegitimate child born and raised in New England who becomes a writer. The search for Adam’s father’s identity provides a thriller element, but it never generates much narrative momentum. Dickensian in scope, the book includes multiple story lines, notably the complex love life of Adam’s lesbian mother, Little Ray, a ski instructor who marries a man who will identify as a woman. Nora, an outspoken lesbian cousin who’s a victim of sexual violence, also plays a significant role. Along the way, Irving chronicles American society from the 1950s to roughly the present, focused on feminism and sexual intolerance. His enormous imagination, his storytelling gifts, and his intelligence are all on display, but this feels more like a coda to his career, if one with a still-resonant theme about family and the maternal relationship: “We’re alone in the way we love our mothers, or in the way we don’t.” Irving’s fans may love this, but it’s not the place to start for anyone new to his work. Agents: Dean Cooke, Cooke McDermid, and Janet Turnbull, Turnbull Agency.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Jacques Roy does the heavy lifting in this update from the chronicler of American sexual politics and champion of nontraditional families. Harkening back to his first hit, THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP, this novel plays the same chorus with new verses. The ensemble voices in this behemoth of an audiobook take part in the imagined screenplays that are part of the novel. Roy's pleasing and cordial voice navigates the story of Rachel Brewster, Little Ray, and her son, Adam, as ghosts of former relatives haunt their unconventional family. Roy portrays gender twists and sexual violence with a steady hand. Fans will relish this report on society since 1950, but this audiobook isn't where you want to start your love affair with Irving. R.O. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      June 10, 2024

      Irving returns with his first book since 2015's Avenue of Mysteries. Adam is ski instructor Rachel's "one and only" child. She refuses to reveal his father's name, but Adam is desperate to find out. As Rachel is absent much of the year, Adam is raised by his grandmother and their extended family. Their household is open to a range of gender differences and sexualities. It unfolds that Rachel is gay and lives with her longtime lover when she is not at home, while her husband Elliott, a wrestling coach and English teacher from Adam's school, comes out as transgender. Adam, who is able to see ghosts, is aided by the ghosts as he eventually discovers his father's identity. Later, Adam, like Irving, becomes a novelist and screenplay writer and imagines his life as a noir movie. Sections of Irving's novel are written as screenplays, a device that unfortunately does not translate well to audio. Despite the impressive cast of talented narrators, the novel is so intricate that it becomes hard to follow. VERDICT Irving's eccentric, warm characters should appeal to his many fans, although some may be bogged down by this lengthy and often repetitive story. --Joanna M. Burkhardt

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading
Check out what's being checked out right now Content of this digital collection is funded by your local Minuteman library, supplemented by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.