Lists

10 Signs You Might Be In A John Irving Novel

Are you really living in a John Irving Novel? Here are ten signs that you just might be.

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

I’m just going to put this out there: John Irving is a total boss. Not every novel is a home run, but as a body of work, he’s definitely batting, like, .750 lifetime. That’s way beyond Hall of Fame level. So I just want to be clear that I am not judging him harshly for, shall we say, his tendency to repeat himself. I actually find it kind of soothing.

irving

And it is precisely because I love John Irving’s books and have read them all, that I am qualified to discern whether you, dear reader, might be in a John Irving novel. Here are ten signs:

  1. Your name is John*
  2. You live in New England or Canada
  3. You attend an all-boys boarding school
  4. You are on the wrestling team
  5. You have daddy issues
  6. You are a writer
  7. You have been seduced by an older woman
  8. You are missing a body part
  9. You are traveling in Austria
  10. You are a bear

 

*Irving’s new novel, Avenue of Mysteries, publishes on November 3, 2015. The main character is named Juan.