The thing
that makes John Irving’s writing compelling is truth. The characters may be
unusual or even occasionally do things that mystify us, but they are always
true to themselves. They are consistent. And the unfolding of the stories
reveal larger truths. His stories have some comic moments, but nobody would
call them comedies. This is true with the novel The Last Chairlift. For
example, the gay and trans characters in the story are unapologetically gay or
trans, even though this takes place at a time when tolerance for anyone outside
the “norm” in sexuality was even less than it is today.
The main
character, Adam, is heterosexual. He has an unconventional upbringing,
surrounded by unconventional people and ghosts. Even the ghosts exist in their
own truth, even though Adam says he doesn’t understand the rules for ghosts.
Whether the ghosts actually exist or are a metaphorical construct, I will leave
up to you to decide. But Adam and his mother and a few others can see the
ghosts. The ghosts for the most part are less judgmental than humans. That
makes sense. Ghosts don’t have anything to prove. They don’t need to put on a façade.
Adam’s mother
is obsessed with skiing. She wanted to be an Olympic skier, but was too small.
She is a single mother, who spends several months of each year away from home as
a ski instructor. Adam resents skiing for taking his mother away from him. In
his own passive aggressive style, the young boy makes sure to ski badly. He
never learns to ski well.
He is mostly
raised by his loving but ineffectual grandmother, a grandfather that has
retreated from reality, two aunts (his mother’s sisters) who are vile in their
self-righteousness, and his mother whenever she is home. We meet other interesting
characters throughout his life, each of whom help to shape who Adam will
become.
As I have
said before about Irving, there are no big surprises. Every tragic moment has
been foretold way in advance. That is by design. There are a lot of characters
that die in this novel. That does not make it depressing. Indeed, we follow the
main character from his birth until he is in his eighties, and anyone who lives
that long is going to lose a lot of people along the way. That’s life. Despite
all the death, this is a novel about life. It is really a celebration of life.
The characters are speaking and living their truths for their whole lives.
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