In One Person - A Bisexual Coming of Age Novel

"In One Person" by John Irving

Desire.  Secrecy.  Sexual Identity.

John Irving's latest (and 13th novel) explores, in the author's words,

"what utter havoc, the mutability of gender."

Starting in the 1950s and taking us up to the present day, it's the coming of age story of Billy, who as a teen is attracted to both the female librarian and the wrestler Jacques... and follows him through the decades, to Europe, to New York, through the AIDS crisis, to today.


The title is from this line of Shakespeare's, in Richard II,

“Thus play I in one person many people,

And none contented.”

I listened to a fascinating interview on NPR with John, who said that he writes his endings first, last lines first, last paragraph first.

"I write collision course stories."

Here's the book trailer:



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