Avenue of Mysteries

An Amazon Best Book of November 2015: Juan Diego got his start in a Oaxacan dump, where he and his sister were self-described dump kids. Their mother Esperanza was a prostitute/cleaning woman, and in Avenue of Mysteries we revisit Esperanza, a pair of Jesuits who affected Juan Diego s life, various circus members, Juan Diego, his sister, and others in a series of flashbacks. Having salvaged books in English and Spanish from the dump, Juan Diego taught himself to read and, ultimately, to write he becomes a successful author, who eventually winds up in Iowa. Now in his fifties, he takes a trip to the Philippines, where he encounters a mother and her daughter, both of them fans, who insist on taking him around. If you re a John Irving fan, some of the details to the story will sound familiar. It s also likely you won t have a problem with that. What I found most satisfying about Irving s latest novel was a return of the feelings I remember from back when I first discovered his writing. This is an immersive read that delivers character, humor, and emotion. Chris Schluep