Dutch and English cover are the same |
Last
Saturday, Januari 23rd, John Irving was
in Amsterdam to talk about his new book: Avenue
of Mysteries. This was organized by the John Adams Institute, an organization
that strengthens the cultural bond between the US and The Netherlands.
I was very
happy to be here. I wanted to go to a John
Irving lecture a couple of years ago, but I did not go back then for
several reasons and I have always regretted this. Now I had a new change and I
took it.
John Irving was amazing, he was warm, thoughtful in his
answers, very funny and told us a lot about the book and the process of
writing. I think the entire audience was captivated, I know I was.
I loved
that he read a part of the novel, from now on I think I will hear his voice
whenever I read one of his books.
The book
Avenue of Mysteries is about Juan Diego. He is a middle aged
writer from Iowa and he is travelling to the Filipinas to keep a promise he
made as a child. He has made a whole journey in his life. He grew up on a dump
in the south of Mexico. He was an intelligent boy who taught himself how to
read from the books that ended at the dump-site.
His sister
Lupe had a speech-impediment, and nobody but Juan Diego could understand her.
She could also read minds and see into the future, although not always correct.
She was better at seeing the past than the future.
When the
boss of the dump drives over Juan Diego’s foot and makes him cripple for the
rest of his life, when their mother dies and when Lupe gets a horrible accident
in the circus, Juan Diego’s life will take a whole new turn.
As John Irving said this Saturday: ‘My
books are a worst case scenario’. Anything that can go wrong, will go
wrong. He does this with his
characteristic humor that makes some events lighter, but other events will hit
you even harder because of the fact you had to laugh so hard just before.
He told us
how he tries to make you care about a character, even if you do not love them,
or to give you another character you do care about. Because if you do not care
about the characters, you do not want to know what will happen to them.
This is
certainly the case in this book. I did not like Juan Diego, he was a douche as
far as I am concerned, but I did care about his sister Lupe or his adoptive
fathers Eduardo and Flor. They made me want to know what happened.
Typical John Irving
All kinds
of typical Irving elements show up in Avenue of Mysteries, like circuses,
physical problems, transgender people, AIDS, religion and mystical elements.
The mother
and daughter that Juan Diego meets on his journey is a good example of the last
element. Two women who come and go unexpectantly, cannot be seen on photographs
and perhaps have certain powers. Are they real or does Juan Diego imagines them
because he is messing around with his medication? Or do they play a completely
different part in his life and have they been there all along?
The writing
style is also typically Irving, with many extra sentences that will give you
new information. Sometimes this seems totally random, only later you will see
these extra sentences provide crucial information.
Is Avenue of Mysteries his best book? No,
when I am honest I do not think so. But even then it is still a very good book,
because John Irving is such a good
writer.
He is the
master of the bizarre plot-structure and he can make chaotic situations come
together in a tight manner. The building of his novel has many sidetracks, but
is always comes back to the point he wants it to come back to. He is one of the
few who can make complete anarchy look logical.
John Irving thinks fantasy is the most important thing a
writer can have. You must be able to create people and situations you have not
experienced yourself. ‘Autobiography is
a grave for fiction, not a source. I do not want to be stuck with real life’.
He also
told us why he hated Ernest Hemingway who said; ‘Write what you know’.
As John Irving explained it: ‘Try to write
about what you don’t know, look over the boundaries of your own experiences and
see how far you will come. It is much harder, but far more interesting.
In short, I
had a wonderful evening and I really enjoyed hearing this amazing writer talk
about his work and his books. I was just sad he was not able to sign books,
since he hurt his hand.
I am
looking forward to the new John Irving
novel, but in the meantime I am glad I still have a few of his novels I have
not read yet, and of course I can reread the others.
John Irving is amazing!
Published
in 2015
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