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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

 Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Dream Latin American Mexico

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

Where does Avenue of Mysteries rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This has to be John Irving's second best Novel, second to "A Prayer for Owen Meany"

What other book might you compare Avenue of Mysteries to, and why?

A Prayer for Owen Meany

Have you listened to any of Armando Duran’s other performances? How does this one compare?

This is the first book I have listened to that was read by Armando Duran. I do like listening to Armando's voice

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

There are sad parts to the story and surprises. The book is unputdownable

Any additional comments?

I have always liked John Irving's Novels. I tend to read his opening chapters several times. John Irving does not pad his stories. Every word has a place in the story

Avenue of Mysteries

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One of Irvings best, a great saga, spendidly read. It came alive.

A long and detailed adventure about all our feelings of love, life and being lost.

With humour, of course and sadness and criticism.
A modern parable, a mondern fairytale, that is life.

Excellent

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John Irving has written some of the best American novels of the last few decades and this is a good one, but not up there with Hotel New Hampshire, Cider House Rules, Owen Meany or Garp, for my taste at least. Shame Audible hasn't rights to some of these, which have excellent audio versions out there.

As is typical of Irving, we explore episodes of the lives of the characters rather than follow the natural flow of time - this is so skilfully done that it does not confuse or distract - and we find that the past informs the present. Irving uses this to great comic effect, but also to add pathos. The present-day journey of the main character, famous author Juan Diego on a bizarre trip to the Philippines kept me entertained, but it was the stories from his early life in abject poverty in Mexico with his extraordinary disabled sister Lupe, that I loved the best. Armando Duran does a remarkable job of voicing this, especially the tortured voice of Lupe - he manages to bring to life both the compassion and grim humour of Irving's writing. Expect to laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time.

A really good listen, but not Irving's best

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Excellent storytelling from a master story teller. Everything novel should be. I was made to believe and care for the characters.

Absorbing drama

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Totally immersive and captivating Narration perfect and very well executed combining the Spanish and English language elements

Wonderful

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