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by Suzanne
Buchert Until I Find You by John Irving “According to his mother; Jack Burns was an actor before he was an actor; but Jack’s most vivid memories of childhood were those moments when he felt compelled to hold his mother’s hand. He wasn’t acting then.” I’ve been reading John Irving since the 1978 publication of “The World According to Garp”. “Garp” became a literary sensation and then a movie with a career making roll for Robin Williams as Garp. I read “Garp”, then “The Hotel New Hampshire” and then went back to pick up Irving’s work from the beginning with the three slim volumes he wrote before becoming an icon in American literature. I was enchanted by the quirky characters, the recurring themes and the rollicking stories Irving created for his readers. I couldn’t wait to buy each new book as it was released, getting the hardcover copy instead of waiting for the inevitable paperback to come out. Then, I just set the book on my shelf for months, relishing the knowledge that I had a great reading treat to come. A little strange, I know. But, as with one of my other favorite authors, Dorothy Dunnett, who died after completing her second multi-volume series, I have a worry in the back of my mind that it might be the last book he writes and I will have nothing to look forward to from Irving. Finally, I gave myself permission to pick up “Until I Find You”, a behemoth of a book at 800+ pages, and began. A friend, also an avid reader, once summed up a book we both had bought as a 300 page book masquerading as a 600 page book. When finished, I had that feeling with this book. The first part followed Jack and his mother, a tattoo artist, around the globe looking for Jack’s father, a cad who had abandoned his girlfriend when she became pregnant. The middle told of Jack’s school years when he was the somewhat willing victim of sexual predation by young girls, mostly. And the last part had Jack an adult, a somewhat successful actor, as he discovered that the truth about his mother and father was nearly the reverse of what he had been told. Along the way there were plenty of quirky characters, the inevitable (for an Irving book) involvement in wrestling, and private schools, but no bears, also a staple in his books. In reading this book I learned a prodigious amount about tattooing. Alice, Jack’s mother, was not only a tattoo artist; she was the daughter of a tattoo artist and the friend of many other tattoo artists. Additionally, Jack’s father, a church organist by trade, was a man in pursuit of a full body tattoo, each one a measure of classical organ music. That all seemed pretty tame compared to the compulsion several of the female characters had with “holding Jack’s penis”. Starting as a young boy, they just couldn’t keep their hands off him and he was at first afraid to say no and then rather content to let them have their way with him. Yup, it was pretty weird, especially in a book the author dedicated to his youngest son. The recurring penis holding became more and more strange and led me to wonder if Irving might benefit from therapy. That said, I can’t say I didn’t like the book and in balance it was a good book. Irving has written eleven books so far, and I do have a favorite. While each book has its charms, for me none compares with “A Prayer for Owen Meany”. “Until I Find You” has not changed that designation. Go ahead, read it. I dare you.
Suzanne Buchert and her husband, Keith, own several restaurants.
sbuchert@hotmail.com
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