Irving's consistency as a story teller is the stuff great authors are made of. Even though an uncommon amount of similar story lines repeat in his works, he himself defends this in this text, mind you, by saying he may take such details, stretching them to their limits, using his own writer-character, Danny Angel, to defend what must be true for the real life writer. This confusing layer of fact over fiction (or is it all fiction?) does disservice to the story by prodding me to wonder... Is this Irving talking? or the character? But only embellishes my idea of what the great American writer himself may answer to in interviews or on the street.
I know that Irving grew up without a father figure and therefore many of his characters lack a parent as well. Whichever parent is present is generally one of strong substance, imparting a never ending devotion, sage wisdom, and protection from earth's real dangers. His men tens towards looking at older women as preferable to those their own age due in some part to a coming-of-age occurrence. There are many more continual story lines that appear in his novels, I do notice however, that they become more unabashedly pronounced as he publishes his works.
Either John Irving is a greater master at promoting his celebrity character or he just can't help himself and if it's the latter, well, I will say that I don't mind and I will keep reading his works even if they continue to overlap and weave themselves together into a quirky, sad and surprising world. Irving makes the unbelievable seem true, the human seem poetic, and I will always read him because of that.
