Year 7, Book 79
79. In One Person by John Irving
The fact that I enjoy John Irving's writing is the only reason I finished reading this book. Be warned that the remainder of this review contains spoilers.
The story revolves around a man named Bill who is now in his 70's and recollecting his life in this book. He is a bisexual man particularly attracted to transexual/transgendered men. Essentially the book is over 400 pages of him coming to terms with this fact and exploring it which just got old after awhile. Additionally, it was one of those ridiculous books where for some reason everyone in this small town is hiding some big gay/transexual secret. His maternal grandfather is a cross-dresser, his father who has been absent his entire life turns out to be a gay cross-dresser, the town librarian with whom he has his first sexual experience is transgendered and living as a woman, one of his good friends is gay, and the boy everyone in school has a crush on also turns out to be a transsexual. The whole thing is rather unbelievable, and I just got more annoyed with each big reveal. Almost every single male this kid knows seems to turn out either gay, a cross-dresser, or both. If you want to read a John Irving book he has much better ones out there. I would give this one a pass. I give it 4 out of 10.
The fact that I enjoy John Irving's writing is the only reason I finished reading this book. Be warned that the remainder of this review contains spoilers.
The story revolves around a man named Bill who is now in his 70's and recollecting his life in this book. He is a bisexual man particularly attracted to transexual/transgendered men. Essentially the book is over 400 pages of him coming to terms with this fact and exploring it which just got old after awhile. Additionally, it was one of those ridiculous books where for some reason everyone in this small town is hiding some big gay/transexual secret. His maternal grandfather is a cross-dresser, his father who has been absent his entire life turns out to be a gay cross-dresser, the town librarian with whom he has his first sexual experience is transgendered and living as a woman, one of his good friends is gay, and the boy everyone in school has a crush on also turns out to be a transsexual. The whole thing is rather unbelievable, and I just got more annoyed with each big reveal. Almost every single male this kid knows seems to turn out either gay, a cross-dresser, or both. If you want to read a John Irving book he has much better ones out there. I would give this one a pass. I give it 4 out of 10.