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In One Person by John Irving (view source)
Revision as of 16:03, 10 April 2012
, 16:03, 10 April 2012no edit summary
The narrator, Billy, certainly has an unusual upbringing. At first we know little about his absentee father, but his mother's own father is a local lumber mill owner whose penchant is to act as a woman in the local amateur dramatic productions. His aunt is a fearsome woman, who often competes with her father for the women's roles. She in turn is married to the alcoholic, local boys' college admissions tutor who is renowned for his lax approach to entry into the school and is sympathetic to his father-in-law. At school, Billy has a crush on the star of the school wrestling team but also on the local librarian, the formidable Miss Frost. The arrival of Billy's soon to be step-father to teach and direct Shakespeare at the college provides the first of many literary references to gender swapping and differing types of love.
The cast of characters are certainly rich in their idiosyncracies and preferences. Over half of the book is devoted to Billy's early years, although he does go off a at tangents and discusses future relationships at times. While much of this was kept private and often fought against, with the school doctors suggesting these feeling could be 'cured' as Billy and his class mates grew up, a more permissive attitude developed. Initially Billy experienced this in Europe on a year abroad (this is Irving - it's almost compulsory for his characters to go to Vienna at some point), but even in the US there was more acceptance until the AIDS outbreak in the 1980s had frightening consequences for many. But what Irving does so well is to evoke sympathy with his main characters, particularly Billy, who often has to deal with these feelings alone. Irving notes that bisexuals in particular suffered from being not trusted by either straight or gay people of either gender. Add in the additional sexual confusion of transgenders, and the whole thing becomes even more messy. But by invoking such sympathy in the main character, it is hard for the reader to judge Billy's choices - although some characters certainly do.
As with all Irving's best works, the subject matter of the stories can sound heavy, but fans will know that his genius is in making these often difficult subjects highly entertaining. While it might be hard to believe that even a particularly lax admissions tutor might attract quite the range of sexual variations that this Vermont college attracts, particularly when the school itself is not particularly liberal, some poetic licence can be allowed when the stories are this entertaining. I have kept hoping that Irving will write another book that is as memorable as his 1980s output in terms of characters and stories. This is that book.
Our huge thanks to the kind people at Doubleday for letting us have a copy of this book.
An obvious next step is [[Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving|Last Night in Twisted River]] while for more on the whole thorny issue of sexual identity, then [[Annabel by Kathleen Winter]] was short-listed for the 2011 Orange Prize.
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