In One Person - John Irving

When I started reading this, it was a few weeks after I picked it up at the library, and I'd forgotten why I'd selected it and who it was by. A couple of pages in, I was startled by a sudden jolt of recognition on reading a sentence (a parenthetical sentence, with a key word italicized) that was so typical of John Irving, it was like unexpectedly bumping into an old friend. Thankfully, in this case the old friend hadn't changed too much, and we still got on very well. The book was packed with comfortingly familiar settings and themes, although the extremely frank and specific descriptions of the central character's sexual experiences and preferences were a little unsettling at times. I found the section of the book dealing with the AIDS epidemic to be particularly powerful, especially a sad anecdote about the panic caused when the central character has a nosebleed while training at the wrestling club where his sexuality had previously been grudgingly accepted. Unfortunately I felt that the ending fell a little flat (perhaps because the characters were eclipsed by the desire to deliver a message?) but overall I found this to be an enjoyable read.