This American/Canadian writer now 84, needs no introduction to most avid readers. I loved one of his books and hated others. This is his latest.
A free floating stream of consciousness is woven into the long history of the Jews, the Holocaust, the longstanding pettish biases of New Englanders and wars, the history and pros and cons of circucision, and a host of other topics, in an almost schizophrenic narrative.
A married school teacher and a librarian in a fictional town in New Hampshire in the post Civil War period, ruminate endlessly about who to adopt next from an orphanage, already having several children. They shun any religious institutions, or any from Maine, and support the right to abortions. Then the narrative switches to the 1940s and beyond. There are so many characters that it is impossible to keep track of all of them. By half way through, I was totally lost. It seems as though the author is determined to show off his impressive knowledge of a wide variety of subjects, including the languages and geography of Austria, the techniques of wrestlers, and the details and hidden meanings in old Hollywood classics.
The queen Esther of the title is really a minor character in much of the book, although the surrogate mother of the much more prominent character, Jimmy Winslow. As usual with Irving, sex is a dominant theme, with Jimmy trying to find a suitable mate to marry and procreate with among the amoral women of Vienna and thereby avoid being drafted into the army and sent to Vietnam.
In my opinion, this book is far inferior to Last Night in Twisted River, and almost as bad as The Last Chairlift. Not recommended.
2.5/5
The Passionate Reader 