I actually thought for 200 pages that it was going to happen. The incidents in the town of Twisted River are colorfully described, the characters are interesting, and even though the subject of log-jamming doesn't appeal to me, I liked that Dominic, or Cookie, was an excellent cook. But then I began to notice things like an annoying predilection for capital letters- names of towns in the various areas where Dominic and his son Danny lived, names of rifles ( like , who cares?), names of famous authors- all scrunched together in paragraphs, as if he was trying to impress us with his wide knowledge. Then there were the women: Carmella, Rosie, Six -Pack Pam, Injun Jane, Katie, Lady Sky- all of whom seemed to have no other purpose in life than to screw Dominic, Ketchum, or Danny. And Danny! Well, he becomes a famous author, and when Irving goes way, way too deeply into his various successes as a writer, who he knows ( see capital letters above), where he writes, what inspires him, ad nauseum, you can't help but be convinced that Irving is writing about himself, whether to prove to himself that he actually exists, or that he is a good writer, or a famous one - which in this case is not one and the same thing- when I think about setting this novel down and turning to the next one in my list - I don't!! I kept on reading! He does tell a good story, but all this other "stuff" around it makes it more of a chore than a reading experience. I also found myself wondering how a female writer would have handled the same story, then that led me to wonder what it is about many male writers that they write way too much- this novel would have been better if it had been about 200 pages shorter.
But, I think I've finished with this notion that you "have" to read John Irving. You don't....
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