Inscrutable Revelations

John Irving’s novels have always landed like incendiaries, albeit leaving smaller craters since the turn of the century. Have any recent literary hot streaks burned brighter than his run of bestsellers between 1978 and 1989? The World According to Garp, The Hotel New Hampshire, The Cider House Rules, and then A Prayer for Owen Meany. After that, the author (and wrestling enthusiast) could have tucked away his Underwood to spend time drilling his double-leg takedown. No one would have questioned him. And besides, in his early heavy hitters, Irving had already rigorously explored the small-town American settings, anxieties, family structures, sexual desires, and formal approaches that preoccupied him. A Son of the Circus, from 1994, featured well-trodden themes and images: bisexuality, bears, wrestling, orphans. It came out at the peak of Irving’s popularity, but already he’d started skiing old tracks.

Still, I was...