September 7, 2015
Irving’s (In One Person) latest depicts Juan Diego, an aging novelist on a pilgrimage to the Philippines and set on fulfilling a promise he made in his childhood to a dying friend. Juan Diego was a “dump kid,” living with his sister, Lupe, in a shack in Mexico among the families who sort refuse for anything of value. But Juan Diego was exceptional, a self-taught reader who seemed fated for more. Through vivid dreams that Juan Diego has as a result of becoming confused about his medication while on a meandering journey to Manila, Irving relates his escape from his humble childhood. Irving fans will recognize similarities with past work: a circus, ambiguous parentage, a child with supernatural powers, various Christian churches, and a transvestite all play major roles. But while these elements may appear recycled, the protagonist’s journey does feels new. Diehard Irving fans will likely enjoy this latest, but those without such loyalties might be better served reading (or rereading) A Prayer for Owen Meany.
September 1, 2015
Sex, drugs, and mariachi: Irving's (In One Person, 2013, etc.) latest ventures south of the border and then back again, tracing the long road and unforeseeable turns that we travel in this world. The sex is constant-at least the desire for it is. ("Juan Diego had noticed that Miriam's breasts were also attractive, though her nipples were not visible through her sweater.") The drugs: well, do Lopressor and Viagra count? And as for the mariachi, it's the soundtrack to a long dream in which "it was impossible to tell where the music came from." When you come to think of it, life itself is pretty much an avenue of mysteries, though, per Irving, not without its comedy in the midst of tragedy and disappointment. Juan Diego, whose very name invokes the first saint of the Americas, has had an eventful journey over half a century from the landfills of Guerrero to Iowa and literary renown; now an accomplished writer, he nears the end of that journey in a faraway city, drifting in and out of a long dream in which he retraces his steps. Or, perhaps, a step and a limp, for, in good Greek tragic mode, Juan Diego nurses a crushed foot that reminds him of the receding past with every ache. Now in Manila, a place that shares the English and Spanish halves of Juan Diego's self but adds its own exotic element, Juan Diego confronts his mortality while puzzling out questions of a theological and much more earthly nature: the mother-and-daughter team that he lusts for over 500-odd pages, for instance, may be more than ordinary mortals, just as everyone Juan Diego has met may be angels or devils in disguise. Irving works his familiar themes-Catholicism, sex, death-with a light and assured touch, and though the dream-narrative construct is a little shelf-worn, it serves the story well. Though not as irresistible as early works such as The World According to Garp and The Hotel New Hampshire, a welcome return to form.
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Starred review from October 1, 2015
The giant dump in Oaxaca, Mexico, hardly seems like fertile ground for a future novelist, yet Juan Diego, the only one who can understand his sister's extraordinary pronouncements as a mind reader and clairvoyant, teaches himself to read Spanish and English, burning his hands as he pulls books from dump fires. Those wounds heal, but an accident leaves him with a smashed foot and severe limp. Now a famous writer living in the U.S. with alarmingly high blood pressure, Juan Diego tells his fantastic story in trancelike flashbacks. We meet his and his sisterLupe's mother, Esperanza, a cleaning woman and prostitute; Flor, a resilient transvestite; two unusual Jesuits, Brother Pepe ( the epitome of goodness ) and self-flagellating, Hawaiian-shirt-wearing Edward from Iowa; and members of the local circus. In the present, Juan Diego is visiting the Philippines, where he is bewitched by a strangely assertive, sexy mother-daughter duo. Irving (In One Person, 2012) is spectacularly hilarious and incisive in this tender, mystical, yet caustic tale, which features a wrathful statue of the Virgin Mary and impassioned castigations of the church's tragic failings. Irving often portrays writers in his novels, but Juan Diego is a special case, bringing particularly enchanting radiance to this empathically imagined, masterfully told, and utterly transporting tale of transcendent sacrifice and perseverance, unlikely love, and profound mysteries. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Irving has phenomenal literary star power, and this magical novel will be heavily promoted and urgently requested.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)
Starred review from September 15, 2015
Successful novelist Juan Diego Guerrero is traveling to the Philippines to fulfill a long-ago promise. On his journey, he is taken under the wing of a mysterious mother and daughter, who seem to appear and disappear at opportune times and manipulate his actions. Perhaps owing to his misuse of his beta-blocker prescription, Juan Diego is haunted by memories of his childhood in Oaxaca, Mexico, and his sister Lupe, who can read minds and predict the future (though not always accurately), and who speaks a strange gibberish that only he can understand. Irving's 14th novel (after In One Person) contains many of the ingredients his fans have come to expect: an intricate plot, troubled and quirky but lovable characters, and an examination of social issues that arises naturally without coming across as didactic. An orphanage, a circus, a transvestite, and Iowa City also make appearances. The "mysteries" in the title refer primarily to the religious sense of the word, particularly as manifested in miracles and visions of the Virgin Mary. Irving also makes sly winks at his own oeuvre and his life as a novelist, while taking a stand on the place of imagination in fiction. VERDICT An essential purchase. [See Prepub Alert, 5/17/15.]--Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Univ. of Minnesota Libs., Minneapolis
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
June 15, 2015
An older man named Juan Diego takes a trip to the Philippines, but he's really thinking about his early years in Mexico, the dreams that pushed his life forward, and the memories that define his life now. Were the unfolding events he recalls inevitable? And what does his vividly felt past have to say about what remains of his future? Says the author, "An aura of fate had marked him. 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."
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
September 15, 2015
Successful novelist Juan Diego Guerrero is traveling to the Philippines to fulfill a long-ago promise. On his journey, he is taken under the wing of a mysterious mother and daughter, who seem to appear and disappear at opportune times and manipulate his actions. Perhaps owing to his misuse of his beta-blocker prescription, Juan Diego is haunted by memories of his childhood in Oaxaca, Mexico, and his sister Lupe, who can read minds and predict the future (though not always accurately), and who speaks a strange gibberish that only he can understand. Irving's 14th novel (after In One Person) contains many of the ingredients his fans have come to expect: an intricate plot, troubled and quirky but lovable characters, and an examination of social issues that arises naturally without coming across as didactic. An orphanage, a circus, a transvestite, and Iowa City also make appearances. The "mysteries" in the title refer primarily to the religious sense of the word, particularly as manifested in miracles and visions of the Virgin Mary. Irving also makes sly winks at his own oeuvre and his life as a novelist, while taking a stand on the place of imagination in fiction. VERDICT An essential purchase. [See Prepub Alert, 5/17/15.]--Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Univ. of Minnesota Libs., Minneapolis
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 25, 2016
Duran manages this multifaceted, character-rich tome with aplomb. He has quirky tones that catch Irving’s humor, humanism, and intellectual and political acumen, as well as his salacious eccentricities. The brilliant, self-educated 14-year-old Juan Diego and his mind-reading 13-year-old sister, Lupe, scavenge and live in the garbage heaps outside the Mexican city of Oaxaca. Around them circle rigid priests and warm-hearted clergy, the “dump boss” who may be their father, a bevy of prostitutes including their mother, a doctor, an American priest who falls for a lovable transvestite, and an assortment of dogs, circus performers, and sundry animals. Around Juan Diego Gurrero, the world-famous novelist traveling the world, are his former student, a sex-crazed mother and daughter who may not exist, and an assortment of ghosts. Duran leads the listener through the plot twists and mysteries surrounding the Virgin Mary and her counterpart, the dark-skinned Virgin of Guadalupe, and, in and out of the realities, dreams and memories of the young and old Juan Diego. This is vintage Irving, and Duran handles it well. A Simon & Schuster hardcover.