Avenue of Mysteries

John Irving’s literary fiction Avenue of Mysteries (2015) is about an elderly man who must find a way to reconnect with his past so that he can fully embrace the present moment. Receiving a positive critical response, reviewers praised Irving’s treatment of memory, time, and fate. An internationally bestselling author, Irving’s books are available in more than thirty-five languages. He is best known for his novel, The Cider House Rules, which has been adapted into a major motion picture. Before writing, Irving was a wrestling coach.

The protagonist, Juan Diego, is a writer who also worked as a teacher for a few decades. Popular with his former students, everyone who knows Juan thinks he is kind and warm. Now that he is retired from teaching, he plans to travel around the world to see all the places he didn’t have time to see before. He craves excitement and a change of scenery. Juan’s student, Clark French, helps him organize the trip.

Juan’s first stop is somewhere near the Philippine Islands. When he arrives, he encounters two eccentric women, Dorothy and Miriam. They won’t leave Juan alone but it’s not because they fancy him. Juan can’t understand why they find him so fascinating, but he secretly enjoys the attention.



One night, Juan sleeps with both women. He feels as though the women have cast a spell over him because now he can’t think about anything else. All he wants is more sex with these women. He decides to part ways with them because it’s not healthy. One day, Juan asks a young boy to take a picture of him with the women on the beach, but when the boy shows Juan the photo, the women aren’t there.

After leaving the women, Juan is alone once more. He takes some time to reflect on his life and how it turned out. He was born in a shack in a poor Mexican town, where he lived with his father, Rivera, his mother, and his sister, Lupe. Rivera was a good man and he did his best for the children. He encouraged Juan to fulfill his potential and make the most of life. Juan loved reading and writing, and Rivera hoped that he could be a teacher someday.

Juan’s mother wasn’t around much. She worked as a cleaner in the local Catholic Church during the day, and a prostitute at night. She encouraged Juan and Lupe to be independent, and Rivera set the siblings up in their own shack when they were just fourteen. Juan and Lupe were very close, because he was the only person who understood her uncanny ability to read minds.



One day, Juan’s mother died in the church. Convinced that a statue of the Virgin Mary spoke to her, she died from fright. Juan saw the whole thing, and he still remembers how shocking it was. Lupe saw it, too, and she has never able to talk about it again. With their mother gone, the siblings ran off to join the circus with no idea how their lives would turn out.

Things moved from bad to worse at the circus. The leader, a lion tamer, verbally abused them, making them feel insignificant. Juan wanted to run away, but Lupe thought that she wouldn’t fit in anywhere else. Not wanting to hold Juan back from building a new life, one night, she jumped into the lion cage and no one saw her again.

Lost and alone, Juan found comfort with Eduardo, a young priest who loved Flor, a transvestite. Knowing they shouldn’t be together because he was a priest, they kept their relationship secret. Juan was the only person who knew about it. As the years went by, Juan moved to Iowa.



In Iowa, Juan found work as a teacher. He also took up creative writing. Eduardo supported his dreams and prayed for him all the time. When Eduardo and Flor both died from AIDS, Juan was devastated and angry that he couldn’t keep their secret any longer. Once again, Juan had no one to call a friend.

Juan returns from his trip and Clark asks him all about it. Juan tells him how enlightening it was, and how he can’t wait to plan his next adventure. Unfortunately, Juan takes sick and he ends up in the hospital. Juan knows, deep down, that he won’t make it out alive. Refusing to accept that Juan is dying, Clark stays at his side the whole time.

As Juan weakens, Clark finally accepts the truth. He says his final farewell and lets Juan rest. Juan can’t sleep because he knows that the end is near. He thinks about the church and his family again. Just as he feels himself drifting off to sleep, two shadowy figures appear— Dorothy and Miriam; they have come to usher him into the afterlife. Juan dies peacefully.