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In One Person

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In One Person

By: John Irving
Narrated by: John Benjamin Hickey
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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."

 Coming of Age Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Fiction Tear-jerking
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Critic reviews

This tender exploration of nascent desire, of love and loss, manages to be sweeping, brilliant, political, provocative, tragic and funny - it is precisely the kind of astonishing alchemy we associate with a John Irving novel. A profound truth is arrived at in these pages. It is Irving at his most daring, at his most ambitious. It is America and American writing, both at their very best.
In One Person is a novel that makes you proud to be human. It is a book that not only accepts but also loves our differences. From the beginning of his career Irving has always cherished our peculiarities - in a fierce, not a saccharine way. Now he has extended his sympathies - and ours - still further into areas that even the misfits eschew. John Irving in this magnificent novel - his best and most passionate since The World According to Garp - has sacralized what lies between polarizing genders and orientations. And have I mentioned it is also a gripping page-turner and a beautifully constructed work of art?
All stars
Most relevant
Several characters at the beginning of the book are repurposed from Owen Meany but if you push past that it's a really good, enthralling book

Complex but lovely book

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A prayer for Owen Meany has been in my top 5 for many years so I was instantly drawn to this latest book by one of my favourite authors and I was not disappointed. Once again he explores our ideas of gender, sexuality and family relationships with a cast of characters that are rounded and real. The book covers decades and, as in real life, not all the ends tie up a nicely as you might hope and with other authors would have turned into a Hollywood style ending that never happens in reality. Thoroughly recommend it.

John Irving does it again

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What an incredible story of one boys long unusual brave life. A brilliant story well told and beautifully written.

An epic story of one boys life

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Great narration.

Ah well 😁 not my normal subject matter but I have read all Irving’s books. Thought provoking, sad in parts, humorous in others. Great piece of work!

Memorable

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A very well narrated (apart from the German) but sadly mediocre story. Not one of Irving's better works. It rambles on and on without any apparent purpose accept to say that LGBTs (and Qs!) should be accepted in society. Hardly a novel observation. Ok, I'll be fair, I wasn't aware of the addition of the Q category. It seems like he was scraping the bottom of the barrel and found some scraps that didn't make it into Owen Meaney (for good reasons) and pasted them together. Either that or he found it necessary to indulge inand publicise his personal sexual fantasies. I can't imagine why audible have this in their catalogue instead of Garp, Cider House, or really any of Irving's other novels (which I really wish would be in the catalogue). Must have been going cheap. If you're new to Irving, don't start here! Get Owen Meany or Son of the Circus which are both great.

Pointless ramble

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