by John Irving
This is the first book I have read by this author. It was an interesting read, but I have to say I am not sure what to make of it.
The book starts with us being introduced to the main character, a successful writer, who is a cripple. The man is on his way to the Philippines. It then jumps back in time....
The story tells of the man and his sister who live in a dump in Oaxaca Mexico. The boy is bright and has taught himself to read by reading the books in finds in the dump. He has read some very strange things, manuals, a history of the Jesuits in Mexico, etc. His younger sister is strange, she can't speak clearly because of a physical issue in her throat. Only her brother can understand her. She seems to be a mind reader, able to understand what others are thinking and comments quite sarcastically and critically about people. Her brother filters what she says often.
The children are looked after by a man who may or may not be the children's father so they are a bit more fortunate than the other dump kids. Their mother is a prostitute/cleaner at the local orphanage who has limited contact with them.
A monk, Pedro meets the kids and wants to take the to live at the local orphanage run by the Jesuits. The kids are reluctant to go. Then an American from Iowa (a priest in training) arrives on the scene and he also develops and interest in the kids. The kids meet an American draft dodger who says his father died in the Philipines(sp?). The boy promises to visit the father's grave for the man (but he doesn't know man's name nor his father's).
One day the "father" of the children accidentally runs over the boys foot with his truck. The boys foot is crushed and not repairable. He will be crippled for life. The decision is made to put the children in the orphanage but they are given their own room rather than being housed with the other children, because of the girl's disability? because their mother is the cleaner at the orphanage?
The two children are very critical of the catholic church and especially of the worship of the virgin Mary. They feel that the Virgin of Guadalupe should be the one to be worshipped. She seems to take second place to the virgin Mary. One day the children are in church when their mother is dusting the statue of the Virgin Mary. The children believe they saw the virgin give their mother an evil look before their mother plunges to her death off the ladder. This of course further inflames their dislike of Mary. Part of Mary's nose is broken off in the accident. The little girl pockets the nose.
For some weird reason the priests/monks decide the kids should join the circus and they are taken to a nearby circus. They think the girl could work as a psychic but of course she would need her brother to translate. She is given the job of feeding the lion's. The boy is taunted into trying to be a high wire acrobat but doesn't really succeed. The girl hates the lion tamer. He wants her to read the lion's minds, which she can, but she doesn't tell him what she knows. She hates him because he has sex with all the young girls once they get their periods.
The kids go to the morgue to get their mother's body. They find the draft dodger (the good gringo) has died. They take both bodies to the dump and cremate them along with a dead dog and the virgin's nose.
They later return to the church and throw the ashes all over the statue of the virgin. The priests are furious. Their "father" agrees to clean the statue and the next day the nose is back on the statue and the virgin's skin is darker. The priests think it is a miracle...
The kids go back to the circus and the sister gets killed because she climbs into the cage with the male lion. The lion tamer then gets killed by the female lions. We find out that the lion tamer got one of his girls pregnant and she died after an abortion he paid for.
The children had another friend, a transvestite. Once the sister dies the Iowan, who has fallen in love with the transvestite, suggests that he and the transvestite should adopt the boy and move to the U. S.
The priests reluctantly agree. They boy has a lovely life in America, gets a good education and becomes a successful author. He is teased about his strange parents but doesn't care because they love each other and love him. Both his "Parents" die of HIV/Aids.
Back to the present..... the author is haunted by thoughts of his past so he is supposed to be taking beta-blockers, but he finds they make him dull and have no dreams so he doesn't always take his pills. He also has a supply of viagra. He is on his way to the Phillippines to honour his pledge to the good gringo... despite the fact he doesn't know the name of the soldier he is supposed to look for.
On his flight to the Philippines, which has been organized by a former student of his who lives there. he is taken over by a mother and daughter who are supposedly fans of his. They stop to get a picture taken and the people who take the pix are shocked. The women grab the phone saying they don't photo well.
The man has sex with the mother or daughter as he travels to different locations in the Philippines. The man visits with his former student's family and the daughter shows up to be with him. She insists he go to a site where soldiers were tortured and he sees one of the ghosts who haunt the place. When he finally finds the photo of him and the women on his phone he is startled to see that only he is visible.
Eventually he gets back to Manila and his former student takes him to a church to see a statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe that has come from Spain centuries before. Only two women, dressed in black are in the church. The man is feeling ill and collapses. At the hospital, as the man is dying, two figures in black go by in the hallway.
So that's the story.... I don't know what to make of it.... I think the man's daughter may have gotten herself killed so her brother could have a better life.... He is not married, maybe he doesn't feel he deserves a happy life? He finds out late in the book that a doctor he loved might have married him, but he hadn't asked her. What is with the mother/daughter? They are obviously spirits, are they designated to make sure he meets his fate? What is with all the sex they inflict on him? The book ends by coming full circle in the sense that it starts with the virgin in Mexico and ends with the Virgin in Manila. You cannot escape your fate. There is a lot of ranting about the catholic church. The man and his former student argue frequently about religion as the former student is a devote Catholic. A very perplexing book. The author does comment briefly that good books are not autobiographical, that real authors should use their imagination...
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