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Avenue of Mysteries

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Avenue of Mysteries

By: John Irving
Narrated by: Armando Duran
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Juan Diego’s little sister is a mind reader. As a teenager, he struggles to keep anything secret – Lupe knows all the worst things that go through his mind. And sometimes she knows more. What a terrible burden it is to know – or to think you know – your future, or worse, the future of someone you love. What might a young girl be driven to do if she thought she had the power to change what lies ahead?

Later in life, Juan Diego embarks on a journey to fulfil a promise he made in his youth. It is a long story and it has long awaited an ending, but Juan Diego is unable to write the final chapters.

This is the story of what happens when the future collides with the past.

© John Irving 2016 (P) Penguin Audio 2016

 Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Fiction Dream Mexico Latin America

Critic Reviews

From the first page to the last, there is a goodness to this novel, a tenacious belief in love and the redemptive power of human connection, unfettered by institutions and conventions. This belief, combined with good old-fashioned storytelling, is surely why Irving is so often described as Dickensian. But John Irving is his own thing, and so is his new novel. Avenue of Mysteries is thoroughly modern, accessibly brainy, hilariously eccentric and beautifully human. (Tayari Jones)
Irving has packed so much detail in . . . And yet he has not run out of what has endeared him to so many for so long: immense charm, an appetite to hurtle headlong at the biggest questions and the altogether unfashionable belief that sentimentality is not a crime against art
Mischievous . . . Challenging and absorbing . . . Juan Diego emerges as one of Irving’s most memorable and fascinating creations, which is saying something. He is a twenty-first century Garp.
Irving has embarked on his dark phase, as did Dickens. It will be interesting, if melancholy, to follow him down that gloomy avenue
A typically idiosyncratic Irving novel: at times exhausting, at other times rambling and self-indulgent, but always readable, impassioned and thought-provoking
Grabs you by the throat in a way few other authors’ work can
Irving’s powers of storytelling – when to give knowledge and when to withhold it, then smack you in the face with it – remain intact
All stars
Most relevant

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Definitely. John Irving always enages the reader/listener in such a way that when the book is over you almost grieve for it.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Lupe because she took no crap, and loved her brother enough to die for him

What about Armando Duran’s performance did you like?

He was able to change his voice only slightly and yet you could tell the characters apart, plus his Spanish accent was perfect.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When Lupe died... It's making me cry now just thinking about it.

Any additional comments?

John Irving is an amazing author. Please make audio versions of more of his back catalogue. The World According to Garp, and The Hotel New Hampshire at least. They are classics.

Can't get enough of John Irving

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What would have made Avenue of Mysteries better?

It would have been better if it was along the lines of "A Prayer for Owen Meany" or " A Son of the Circus" To rambling & just a bit weird for me.

Would you ever listen to anything by John Irving again?

Might

I persisted but I couldn't finish this tome.

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