John Irving returns to the themes that established him as one of our most admired and beloved authors in this absorbing novel of fate and memory.
As we grow older-most of all, in what we remember and what we dream-we live in the past. Sometimes, we live more vividly in the past than in the present.
As an older man, Juan Diego will take a trip to the Philippines, but what travels with him are his dreams and memories; he is most alive in his childhood and early adolescence in Mexico. "An aura of fate had marked him," John Irving writes, of Juan Diego. "The chain of events, the links in our lives-what leads us where we're going, the courses we follow to our ends, what we don't see coming, and what we do-all this can be mysterious, or simply unseen, or even obvious."
Avenue of Mysteries is the story of what happens to Juan Diego in the Philippines, where what happened to him in the past-in Mexico-collides with his future.
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[Occasionally, John Diego would make a point of saying 'I'm a Mexican - I was born in Mexico, I grew up there'] ***(Doubleday, hardback, 14 January 2016 (first published 3 November 2015), borrowed from my library)
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This is my first time reading the author.
I really enjoyed Avenue of Mysteries. The author's style reminds me a lot of Joyce Carol Oates.
I found the book compelling, one of those novels you keep getting drawn further and further into. The more I read the more I enjoyed the characters, wanted to read more and vice versa.
I loved reading about Juan's childhood growing up dirt poor, living in an area known as the dump, taking care of his sister whose poor language only he can understand, mostly ignored by his prostitute mother and finding happiness and a way out of his miserable situation through reading. I felt these were the strongest parts of Avenue of Mysteries.
I found reading about Juan as an adult much less interesting. He lacks the interesting parts he has a child. Juan is a wounded, old man, a bit of a curmudgeon. I found it a bit creepy that woman seemed to throw themselves at him, especially young women. I assume this was because of his fame as a novelist?
Avenue of Mysteries is worth a read and I will revisit this author.
