In One Person by John Irving

Official Summary

A compelling novel of desire, secrecy, and sexual identity, In One Person is a story of unfulfilled love—tormented, funny, and affecting—and an impassioned embrace of our sexual differences. Billy, the bisexual narrator and main character of In One Person, tells the tragicomic story (lasting more than half a century) of his life as a “sexual suspect,” a phrase first used by John Irving in 1978 in his landmark novel of “terminal cases,” The World According to Garp.

His most political novel since The Cider House Rules and A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving’s In One Person is a poignant tribute to Billy’s friends and lovers—a theatrical cast of characters who defy category and convention. Not least, In One Person is an intimate and unforgettable portrait of the solitariness of a bisexual man who is dedicated to making himself “worthwhile.”

My Two Cents

John Irving has written some of my favorite books - A Prayer for Owen Meany, Cider House Rules - but his last book, Last Night in Twisted River, was so boring that I couldn't even get through 100 pages.  So I was not sure what to expect with this book, it could have gone either way.

Well, I finished it anyway.  But honestly, I'm not really sure what to think about it.  The way it was written (constant back and forth between distant past, more recent past and present) was strange and compelling - but annoying at the same time.  And to be sure the main character was kind of fun and interesting but somewhat unlikable.  In the end, I'm not really sure what this novel set out to do.  It seemed...I don't know...overwritten somehow?  But it was not bad - I'm glad I read it.  But it took me two weeks to get through it which is almost unheard of for me.

So - I would say give it a chance.  You could always just stop reading it, right?