Weekend book pick: John Irving's 'In One Person'
5/12/2012
By USA TODAY
What should you read this weekend? USA TODAY's picks for book lovers include
In One Person
By John Irving; Simon & Schuster, 425 pp., $28; fiction
By John Irving; Simon & Schuster, 425 pp., $28; fiction
Ever since that car coasted up the driveway with the lights out in The World According to Garp, you could craft an epilogue to the Kinsey Report with all the unusual impulses, desires and peculiarities that John Irving has tenderly humanized.
In One Person is a plea for acceptance. Novelist Billy Abbott, the bisexual narrator, grows up in
a fictional town called First Sister, Vt. Even as a 13-year-old in the mid-1950s, when this erotic history begins, ever-questioning Billy talks openly of his "dangerous crushes" on the "wrong people," including his stepfather. Irving includes "devastating chapters" on the AIDS epidemic as the 70-year-old Billy looks back.
a fictional town called First Sister, Vt. Even as a 13-year-old in the mid-1950s, when this erotic history begins, ever-questioning Billy talks openly of his "dangerous crushes" on the "wrong people," including his stepfather. Irving includes "devastating chapters" on the AIDS epidemic as the 70-year-old Billy looks back.
USA TODAY says *** out of four. "Irving is a master of the big-hearted social epic … painfully human."
Along the Way: The Journey of a Father and Son
By Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez with Hope Edelman; Free Press, 394 pp., $27; non-fiction
By Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez with Hope Edelman; Free Press, 394 pp., $27; non-fiction
In this joint memoir, veteran actor Martin Sheen and his eldest son, Emilio Estevez, the actor/filmmaker, reveal eerie, often ironic parallel journeys, both personally and professionally. They've struggled as artists and fathers, and we come away with a deeper understanding of the sacrifices and compromises they've made in balancing craft and family.
USA TODAY says *** ½ out of four. "It's refreshing to find a dual memoir between a father and son from the same profession that's so honest and cathartic."
Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China
By Paul French; Penguin, 245 pp., $26; non-fiction
By Paul French; Penguin, 245 pp., $26; non-fiction
On a cold Peking morning in 1937, a man named Chang Pao-chen was taking his caged songbird for a walk when he discovered the mutilated body of a 19-year old British girl. She was Pamela Werner. Her father, a distinguished diplomat, had been searching for her since she failed to return from ice skating the evening before.
USA TODAY says *** out of four. Told with "a police procedural's efficiency … persuasive and disturbing."
Are You My Mother?
Written and illustrated by Alison Bechdel; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 288 pp., $22; non-fiction
Written and illustrated by Alison Bechdel; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 288 pp., $22; non-fiction
The author of the acclaimed graphic memoir Fun Home, about her father, returns with an illustrated look at her mother. In Are You My Mother?, Bechdel poses an infinity of thought-provoking questions about women, literature, feminism, family bonds and the complicated relationship between therapist and patient.
USA TODAY says *** ½ out of four. "A page turner, thanks in part to Bechdel's lovely and subtle illustrations."
They Eat Puppies, Don't They?By Christopher Buckley; Twelve, 334 pp., $25.99; fiction
In his new comic novel, Christopher Buckley sees the lighter side in China's treatment of Tibet, the death of beloved spiritual leaders, and America's financial dependency on China. The story revolves around a Washington lobbyist for an aerospace manufacturer who is charged by his CEO with fomenting fears about China so the firm can get funding for a secret U.S. defense system.
USA TODAY says *** ½ out of four. "Christopher Buckley's new novel … is hilarious."
USA TODAY says *** ½ out of four. "Christopher Buckley's new novel … is hilarious."
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