If this is your introduction to John Irving, I suggest you step back into his fabulous library of earlier works, like those mentioned above. (I even enjoyed The Hotel New Hampshire quite enormously as well.) Garp is on my all-time favorite short list, so that tells you how much I love that book — start there and you too will become a lifelong Irving fan. There aren't that many writers, particularly male writers, who treat women with the respect and strength that Irving typically does (though that could be debated as well, I suppose), and in Twisted River there are definitely big, strong women.
Which is probably why, after all, I still enjoyed Twisted River and would recommend it, with the caveat that it may take you awhile to work your way through from Danny's childhood to his life as an older man. Like most Irving novels, this one has the archetypal young man on a journey, one that's full of multiple dangerous twists and disastrous turns, with occasional glimmers of joy thrown in. It's a circuitous route (thus the title, perhaps?) but one he takes you on skillfully, in the end.
Twisted River is by no means a quick, light read — but it is, ultimately, a good one. Just not a great one.
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