I recall years ago while reading John Irving's The Cider House Rules, thinking to myself, "How can anyone read this book and not understand why abortion should be legal ?" I felt something quite similar while reading this book. For anyone out there who truly believes that homosexuality is choice, do yourself a favor and read this book . If you open your mind,even just a little bit, this book should help you see things in a whole new light ! ( )

En el pequeño teatro de aficionados de la localidad de First Sister, y también en el Club de Teatro del colegio, al adolescente Billy Dean suelen caerle en suerte papeles complejos y ambiguos, pero sin duda nunca serán tan valientes y comprometidos como los que tendrá que interpretar en ese otro gran teatro que es la vida. Lo cierto es que, a sus trece años, su existencia da un vuelco tras conocer al atractivo Richard Abbott, su futuro padrastro y figura clave en su educación sentimental. Richard también le presentará a la señorita Frost, la maravillosa bibliotecaria del pueblo, quien guía sus primeras lecturas antes de acabar convirtiéndose en fiel cómplice. A medida que avanzan los cursos escolares, y mientras se forja como escritor, Billy se embarca en la búsqueda de su identidad sexual al tiempo que vive cada vez de manera más apremiante la necesidad de conocer a su verdadero padre, ese eterno ausente del que nadie habla. Tardará toda una vida en dar con él, y será en Madrid.

Definitely a John Irving story, with a little more sex than usual, and much more variations in sex than usual. I really like his style and I enjoyed this book a lot. ( )

Anche se non all'altezza di "Vedova per un anno" o di "Il mondo secondo Garp" è un altro romanzo dai ritmi lenti, con dialoghi schietti, che scandiscono numerosi eventi lungo il corso della vita del protagonista.
Viene affrontato il tema della bisessualità, così difficile da mostrare nella società degli anni del secondo dopoguerra (...e non solo negli Stati Uniti).
Irving stavolta è un po' meno ironico e insiste di più sul tono drammatico: in ogni caso un ottimo libro assolutamente da leggere. ( )

William (Bill/Billy) is in boarding school and a young teen when he begins to question why he has crushes on the “wrong people”. He has a crush on one of the wrestlers in school, and also the older (woman) librarian; he also has a crush on a friend’s mother, as well as his own stepfather. In the book, he is an older man (bisexual) and looking back on his life and his relationships over the decades.

I thought this was ok. There was a lot of sex. Of all kinds. Have to admit I got a bit tired of that after a while. But, I thought it got a bit more interesting (and sad) in the 80s when AIDS hit. To see him watch so many people he knew die of AIDS… Initially I was a bit confused with the storyline, as it was a bit back and forth in time and trying to keep track of who was whom and when they were in his life, but after a while, I think I got used to that. I was a bit surprised at how many people in this small town were lgbtq+, though. Maybe there weren’t as many as I thought, as it was spread out over time, but it seemed like a lot. ( )