Avenue of Mysteries
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Beiträge
John Irving is an excellent writer and except for his short stories I've enjoyed everything he ever wrote - until now. I'm afraid I have to say that I really didn't like this book. This is strange in fact because it had all the classic Irving elements - orphans, prostitutes, flatulating dogs, a circus, the playing-around with the "autobigraphical" elements etc. There were characters dying in absurd situations but I didn't laugh at them as I normalley would. The childhood part is usually the part I love best about Mr Irving's books. In Avenue of Mysteries it was much longer than usual and so the book should have entertained me but sadly it didn't. The Mexican setting sounded great too: The protagonist, Juan Diego, spends his childhood in Oaxaca, a town in the south of Mexico which I visited a few years ago. I loved this place and I found the story with the two Marys (Mary mother of Jesus and the Madonna of Guadalupe) very fascinating. All these elements should have made Avenue of Mysteries a great novel - but they didn't. I'm still not sure why. Maybe it was because the story (unlike the previous novels) wasn't told in chronological order: the childhood part was dreamed by the protagonist. The changes from past to present were very abprubt and I sometimes hade to make sure where in the story I actually was. Maybe it was because of the weird sex scenes with the mother/daughter couple Juan Diego meets on his trip to the Philippines. From Mr Irving's previous books I'm used to a lot of sex but then it always made sense. This time it didn't. I can't tell you. All I can say is that I'm disappointed by this novel and that it is the first Irving I can't recommend. (I received a free digital copy via Netgalley/ the publisher. Thanks for the opportunity!)
Beiträge
John Irving is an excellent writer and except for his short stories I've enjoyed everything he ever wrote - until now. I'm afraid I have to say that I really didn't like this book. This is strange in fact because it had all the classic Irving elements - orphans, prostitutes, flatulating dogs, a circus, the playing-around with the "autobigraphical" elements etc. There were characters dying in absurd situations but I didn't laugh at them as I normalley would. The childhood part is usually the part I love best about Mr Irving's books. In Avenue of Mysteries it was much longer than usual and so the book should have entertained me but sadly it didn't. The Mexican setting sounded great too: The protagonist, Juan Diego, spends his childhood in Oaxaca, a town in the south of Mexico which I visited a few years ago. I loved this place and I found the story with the two Marys (Mary mother of Jesus and the Madonna of Guadalupe) very fascinating. All these elements should have made Avenue of Mysteries a great novel - but they didn't. I'm still not sure why. Maybe it was because the story (unlike the previous novels) wasn't told in chronological order: the childhood part was dreamed by the protagonist. The changes from past to present were very abprubt and I sometimes hade to make sure where in the story I actually was. Maybe it was because of the weird sex scenes with the mother/daughter couple Juan Diego meets on his trip to the Philippines. From Mr Irving's previous books I'm used to a lot of sex but then it always made sense. This time it didn't. I can't tell you. All I can say is that I'm disappointed by this novel and that it is the first Irving I can't recommend. (I received a free digital copy via Netgalley/ the publisher. Thanks for the opportunity!)