Spanning over 50 years, Last Night is a family saga about father and son. Dominic Baciagalupo and his twelve-year-old son Danny live in a small logging town, called Twisted River, in northern New Hampshire. Dominic is the cook for the entire camp. The loggers call him “Cookie.”
One day, in 1954 there is a tragic accident and in the river and a boy, Angel dies. He is just a bit older than Danny. Dominic is having an affair with the local sheriff’s girlfriend, Injun Jane. One night while they are making love, Danny comes in and mistakes Jane for a bear and hits her hard with a skillet. She dies and Dominic and Danny flee from Twisted River and change their names. They are on the run for decades.
They settle again in New England and Dominic gets a job with Angel’s family in their restaurant. He also has an affair with Angels mother but doesn’t marry her because he doesn’t want to drag her into his mess. Danny becomes a famous author and uses the name Danny Angel. Many years later, there are visitors to the restaurant, from the past and Dominic and Danny must run again. This time, they go to Iowa but later, they flee to Canada.
This book is packed with a cast of quirky characters, great plot development, and descriptions of beautiful and harsh landscapes. Some of the relationships that both Dominic and Danny had were a bit much. My only problem with the book is that none of the female characters havwe very little dimension to them and are not portrayed in a flattering light. However, since they are secondary characters, I can overlook that.
I saw John Irving last year at the Vancouver International Writers and Readers festival. he admitted to the audience that there are some similarities between himself and his character, Danny Baciagalupo.
I have only read one John Irving book before this, ‘A Widow for One Year.’ I thought it was a good book but nothing special. I’m so glad I gave Irving another try, this book was a really page turner for me. Now I see why there are so many John Irving fans! I look forward to read more John Irving books.
4/5
Also reviewed by:
A Novel Menagerie
Caribousmom
Luxury Reading
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