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Irving, John : Avenue Of Mysteries

Simon & Schuster, New York City, NY, 2015

ISBN 1451664168

First Edition / First Printing. As New in As New Dust Jacket. 465 pages. The author's fourteenth novel. Now considered a contemporary classic. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a regular first print run as a hardcover original only. "Autographed Copy" round sticker pasted in front. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents John Irving's "Avenue of Mysteries". Widely described and praised as his "American-immigrant" novel. His protagonist, Juan Diego, is Hispanic. He also makes an epiphanic trip to the Philippines, the former (and only) Asian colony the United States has ever had, where he befriends and becomes close to two Filipino women. Irving pulls this off as a novelist writing at a new peak, combining Dickensian "verisimilitude" realism (an acute sense of life's probabilities) with Irving-esque surreality (an even more acute sense of life's improbabilities that is, by now, identified with him). It sounds relatively easy. In fact, very few novelists succeed in uniting the particular and the universal as convincingly as Irving does at his very best. "Juan Diego got his start in an Oaxacan dump, where he and his sister were self-described 'dump kids'. Their mother Esperanza was a prostitute and cleaning woman, and in 'Avenue of Mysteries', we revisit Esperanza, a pair of Jesuits who affected Juan Diego's life, various circus members, his sister, and others in a series of flashbacks. Having salvaged books in English and Spanish from the dump, Juan Diego taught himself to read and to write. He becomes a successful author. He takes a trip to the Philippines, where he encounters a mother and her daughter, who insist on taking him around. An immersive read that delivers character, humor, and emotion" (Chris Schluep). "A richly detailed, imaginative, and beautiful novel, with a series of events that seem equally bizarre and resoundingly universal. A complex and many-layered novel that covers a lot of intellectual, moral, and emotional ground, but in the end, it is the simplest, saddest, and most wonderful tale of the human condition because it is about what we all fear: Finding people to love and then losing them in the end" (The Fort Worth Star-Telegram). An absolute "must-have" title for John Irving collectors. This Autographed Copy is very boldly and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by John Irving. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: John Irving did NOT sign copies in person. A very limited number of pre-signed copies were made available by his publisher. A rare signed copy thus. One of the greatest American writers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER JOHN IRVING TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1451664168.

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Irving, John : Avenue of Mysteries

NY: Simon and Schuster (2015)., 2015

First printing. 8vo. 460 pp. Original binding. This is a tight, fine book in a bright, fine DJ.. Book Condition: As New. Binding: Hardcover. Jacket: Dust Jacket Included

1st Edition

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