I am an avid John Irving fan but I was kind of disappointed by this latest one. Whenever I pick up a new book by Irving I am always full of anticipation for the quirky unusual plot-lines and his humorous, down to earth story-telling, but it seems like lately he`s started to write less like a novelist and more like a screenwriter, trying his hand at bringing out the next Hollywood blockbuster. And why, oh why did we have to suffer through those long tedious descriptions of organs, and church music in the beginning chapters? It`s obvious that a fair amount of research went into this book, but is it really necessary to burden readers with all that background material???
I wish he would go back to writing novels in the style of "Hotel New Hampshire" and "A Son of the Circus."
