In One Person

By John Irving

“My dear boy, please don’t put a label on me – don’t make me a category before you get to know me!”
 
John Irving’s new novel is a glorious ode to sexual difference, a poignant story of a life that no reader will be able to forget, a book that no one else could have written.
 
Told with the panache and assurance of a master storyteller, In One Person takes the reader along a dizzying path: from a private school in Vermont in the 1950s to the gay bars of Madrid’s Chueca district, from the Vienna State Opera to the wrestling mat at the New York Athletic Club. It takes in the ways that cross-dressing passes from one generation to the next in a family, the trouble with amateur performances of Ibsen, and what happens if you fall in love at first sight while reading Madame Bovary on a troop transport ship, in the middle of an Atlantic storm. For the sheer pleasure of the tale, there is no writer alive as entertaining and enthralling as John Irving at his best.
 
But this is also a heartfelt, intimate book about one person, a novelist named William Francis Dean. By his side as he tells his own story, we follow Billy on a fifty-year journey toward himself, meeting some uniquely unconventional characters along the way. For all his long and short relationships with both men and women, Billy remains somehow alone, never quite able to fit into society’s neat categories. And as Billy searches for the truth about himself, In One Person grows into an unforgettable call for compassion in a world marked by failures of love and failures of understanding.
 
Utterly contemporary and topical in its themes, In One Person is one of John Irving’s most political novels. It is a book that grapples with the mysteries of identity and the multiple tragedies of the AIDS epidemic, a book about everything that has changed in our sexual life over the last fifty years and everything that still needs to. It’s also one of Irving’s most sincere and human novels, a book imbued on every page with a spirit of openness that expands and challenges the reader’s world.
 
A brand new story in a grand old tradition, In One Person stands out as one of John Irving’s finest works – and as such, one of the best and most important American books of the last four decades.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: May 8, 2012
• ISBN: 9780307361806

John Irving

John Irving has been nominated for a National Book Award three times—winning in 1980 for the novel The World According to Garp. In 1992, Irving was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He won the 2000 Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules. In 2001, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Irving's most recent novel is In One Person (2012).

Reviews for In One Person

[karenduff · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wonderfully written, funny and moving. This is a really good read.

[lindaweeks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

John Irving wrote one of my absolute favourite books "A Prayer For Owen Meany" which I have read several times over my life. This book will have to be added to that list. No one writes with such honesty about difficult situations than Irving, particularly during the awkward coming of age times. If you don't laugh, cry, feel uncomfortable and have at least one moment of "I've felt that way" when reading this then you aren't doing it right.
Irving brings the world of transgender (transsexual) people out of the closet so to speak in such a compassionate way that ultimately this book becomes a story of characters not a dissertation on what is still a difficult subject to contemplate for many.
And much to my joy I felt a bit as if Owen Meany haunted the pages of this book, in Elaine's voice, in the quirks of many of the characters, in the very similar settings and in the unforgettable uniqueness of the protagonist.

[imperfectcj · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Throughout college and for about a half-decade after, John Irving was my favorite author. I loved the way he took similar elements (wrestling, squash, New England, boarding schools, abortion, sexual diversity, shrill and prudish women) and reshuffled them into something full of new meaning. I loved A Prayer for Owen Meany and A Widow for One Year, and I enjoyed, to one degree or another, everything else of his I read (with the possible exception of The Water-Method Man, but we're all entitled to some misses).Overall, In One Person does just what my favorite Irving novels do with the reshuffled elements and the new meaning. In addition, Irving tackles without flinching issues of sexuality and gender fluidity that have seemingly got our whole country shifting in their seats a little (or a lot) right now. And I really appreciate the look at what the AIDS epidemic was like in the 1980's. I was in elementary school when Ryan White was kicked out of school for being HIV positive and in college when the first anti-retrovirals were approved, but while AIDS was present and in the news for much of my youth, I had little to no experience with people living with the disease until I was an adult and public sentiment---and available treatments---had changed dramatically. This novel wasn't the first time I'd heard about what it was like on the inside of this epidemic, but it was a poignant telling. As usual, Irving doesn't pull any punches.All of this I love, but I didn't quite love this novel as a whole. It took about 180 pages for the story to start moving, and when it did I thought, "There! There's the Irving that I know!" but even after that, it never quite reached the level of my favorite Irving novels.The main problem I have is with the narrator. I don't dislike Bill/Billy/William as a person---he's actually a quite sympathetic character---but he is a clumsy narrator. Either Irving, for artistic reasons, is letting Bill do the narrating knowing he'll overuse italics and exclamation points and repeat words and phrases beyond the tolerance of the reader, or this is actually Irving's narrating voice and he's lost his edge or is just phoning it in these days. In a way, it doesn't really matter because I found the narration tedious regardless.Beyond the head-on way Irving addresses gender identity, sexuality, and HIV/AIDS, I also appreciate the way he portrays the differences between generations. We see the progression in tolerance from the pre-World War II generation through to the Millennials, although I do sense a little Baby Boomer reticence about GenX. While Baby Boomers and Millennials get starring roles in Irving's world, GenX features hardly at all (by my count, just two characters who reach adulthood) and always as the pragmatists stuck in between a generation of navel-gazers and a generation of phone-gazers. That's not really Irving's fault, though; by underappreciating (or perhaps just misunderstanding) GenX, he's just reflecting reality. (Boo-hoo, I know.)At any rate, aside from the sidelining of my generation, I like the way that Irving shows how tolerance grows gradually and in a nonlinear fashion as the paradigms of each generation shift. What was once unthinkable becomes not only possible but almost normal two generations down the line. Or in the case of Shakespeare and casting men in women's roles and vice versa, it goes more "acceptable, unacceptable, unacceptable but necessary, acceptable but edgy, acceptable." Or something like that. Nonlinear.I also enjoy how disappointingly human Irving's characters are. With the possible exception of Miss Frost, there are no perfect characters. Everyone's just muddling along the way we all do. It's not always satisfying, but I wouldn't trust a novel in which it was any other way.

[ameise1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a highly interesting listening, even if I needed some time to dive into the story. In my opinion, the beginning could have been shorter, because only after the first third did the story begin to live for me.What is highly interesting is that the story plays at a time when the issue of gender was still taboo. It addresses equally homosexuality, bisexuality and transgender. It shows the outbreak of AIDS and how people deal with death. The different characters have grown very much to my heart during listening, and I could sympathize with them. The topic is still highly ardent and it will probably still be a time before it is normal in our society.

[brokentune · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

DNF @ 36%

I have decided to move on from this one. There is just nothing in this story that keeps me interested, and that is a huge shame because the premise of the book - a coming of age story of a young guy who discovers he is not fitting in with the people around him because of his outlook on life and his sexuality - sounded somewhat intriguing.

I have no idea what to expect, but after just over a third in the book, I just cannot buy into the story or the characters. This is meant to be a tragic comedy, but so far the comedy has escaped me. It does not help that much of the book reminds me of Catcher in the Rye and its protagonist. I could not stand Holden Caulfield. There, I said it. So, having another story centre on a character that seems much like Holden will not work in the book's favour. Not for me, anyway.

What's more, none of the other characters seem to be fleshed out (except for old Henry) and so far the construct of personalities that are mostly made up of social stereotypes is just leaving me comparing the book to a number of other books which I would rather be reading.
I take this as a sure sign that it is time to move on.

Next!

[narshkite · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Well...this really breaks my heart. I love John Irving's books. A Prayer for Owen Meany and Cider House Rules would likely make my top 25 favorites were I to make such a list. This book though is preachy and ludicrous. I wanted to like this so much. In addition to my adoration of Irving's work, I am a strong supporter of the LGBTQ community, and appreciate the community's concerns being front and center in a book for wide distribution and not one stuck in the "Gender Studies" section. That said, I can't provide a positive review. I struggled to finish the book only because it was John Irving. If a new author had served this up I doubt it would have been published, and I know I would not have read it through.Issue #1: What do they put in the water in Three Sisters Vermont that nearly everyone we meet enjoys cross-dressing? Most of these people are Transgender and many others Gay or Bi. I had a Gay friend who used to claim every famous person was Gay and closeted. Finally one day I rolled my eyes and said that not everyone famous is Gay. He responded, "Of course not! Only the hot ones." This feels like that.Issue #2: Billy Abbott, the protaganist in this mess, is ridiculous, dull, and pedantic. Back in the 50s no high school kid was running around small-town Vermont proud to chat about being bi-sexual or about his attraction to transgendered people. I am not sure those terms even existed. Certainly if that person had existed he would not have been met with nearly universal praise and encouragement. Hey Billy, you are to coolest high school kid in town because you made it with an old tranny! Even in 2012 that is implausible. One of my pet peeves is authors who set novels in a specific historical moment but then give the main character a life and an attitude that would have been impossible then. This was my beef with One Thousand White Women and Charlotte Simmons, among others. Here it is a huge issue.Issue #3: Bloodbath. This spans a lot of years, and it is a fact of life that everybody dies, but not everyone has to die in the book. Issue #4: I have never felt that Irving writes women very well. They always stand for something rather than being someone. This is especially true here. Billy's mother, aunt and grandmother are horrible and ridiculous. The lesbian cousin is central casting (vagina discussions at Thanksgiving dinner anyone?) Elaine (Billy's best friend) is pathetic and all of Billy's girlfriends are hollow and petty. The only slightly nuanced women are the ones that were born with penises (or as Billy would say "penithes.")Issue #5: Penithes. Two characters have "speech" disorders which stop them from pronouncing words with which they are not comfortable. "Vagina" "penis" "aureolae" "time." So contrived! Also, the word "penis" is used so much. One paragraph had the word 17 times, several times in every sentence. This would have been annoying no matter what the word. Find a pronoun or at least a synonym.Issue #6: Irving's portrayal of writers (those of prose and poetry) makes me not like writers.Issue #7: This book is incredibly repetitious. Things are repeated over and over and over and over. I assume it was intentional since the phrase "once you start repeating things it is a hard habit to break" is one of the things that is repeated and repeated and repeated. It is not an effective device.Okay, there is more, but I have work to do so I am ending it here. After reading this and Twisted River within weeks of one another, and not being too impressed with either, I need to go back and read Hotel New Hampshire, or Garp or something else and remind myself that I love Irving. Because I do, and for good reason.

[steadfastreader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read somewhere that this was Irving's most political book since 'Cider House Rules'. It probably is. A few things though. There seems to be an inordinately large LGBT(Q) population in the tiny town of Favorite River. ...not that there's anything wrong with that, but it felt a bit contrived.

Second. I feel like both of these themes have been better executed in 'A Prayer for Owen Meany' (friendship, the idea of being a 'Joseph' [in this case bi-], even the FAMILY is the same, but with less love) and 'A Widow for One Year', which tackles a man's lifelong obsession and longing for an older woman that shapes his life.

That being said I think that this is a fabulous novel for the subject matter that it tackles. It's warm and funny, the characters are largely likable. The best part of this novel is the way that it takes on the 1980's AIDS epidemic and completely humanizes it. Like the AIDS Quilt in DC, it's a great reminder that those who suffered (and are suffering) are NOT just statistics.

Definitely worth the read, even if it's not his best.

[lilysreads · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've yet to read a novel by John Irving that I haven't like, and this one is no exception. In One Person was spectacular. It's a novel that makes you think- about everything, about the things that happen when you're a kid, a teen, an adult. Even though I'm only nineteen, I can tell this will be a book I can go to when things get rough. It might have some aspects I can't completely relate to, but as a whole, this novel, like the other novels by Irving that I've read, while completely outstanding and impossible to imagine, is one of the most relateable novels I've read in a while. I can't wait to pick up my next Irving novel.

[pepe68-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Really boring ranting of an old fart about his sexual (dis)orientation and preferred sexual practices. Yaaawn.

[thorold_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Entertaining and well-meant but not terribly convincing "there but for the grace of God" novel, in which Irving re-imagines his own life story as if he had had a different sexuality. As usual there is lots of vivid background detail, following the principle of "nothing exceeds like excess" (forget play-within-a-novel: this is Western Drama 101). But the central character never really comes to life, and the account of the AIDS crisis of the eighties from a safe distance feels more voyeuristic than engaged.

[samsattler · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am, and have been for a long time, a huge fan of John Irving's writing. Two or three of his novels, in fact, are among my all-time favorites. I actually read the first few chapters of "In One Person" back in 2012 when the book was first published but grew rather bored with the book's pace and set it aside for a later try.This time around I did finish the book - although I found two or three other parts of the book in which the plot moved along painfully slowly, I finished the book. Strangely (to me), the book seemed to drag particularly toward the end, the spot at which most novels are finally reaching their climax (no pun intended, in this case). It just ends...and life goes on, I suppose. Along the way, there are some interesting and sympathetic characters to enjoy and, as always, Irving's plot twists are complicated and intriguing. As it turns out, all of my favorite "In One Person" characters turn out to be the most sexually "twisted" ones in the novel. I know this is exactly how Mr. Irving intended/hoped his readers would react when reading the novel, and it worked. He manages to "humanize" every one of the characters struggling to find or deal with their sexual identities and makes them into entirely sympathetic people. On the other hand, and entirely as Irving intended, it is the "straights" of the book that come across as unlikable, ignorant, or unreasonable. I get the message...but it does become a little transparent when only four or five of all the straight people main character, Billy, meets in his lifetime dislike him pretty much only because of his sexual identity (Billy is bisexual). That said, this is a John Irving novel and, in my opinion, ALL John Irving novels have something positive and enjoyable to offer the reading. "In One Person" is far from the author's best writing, but I'm glad I gave it a second chance.

[susan.h.schofield · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I would give this book 2 stars for the actual story but 5 stars for the writing - I love the way John Irving writes I just didn't enjoy this book.

[librarian1204 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not my favorite but still, I will take any John Irving book .

[cathyvil · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Started out a bit slow for me but eventually drew me in to the point where I had to find out what happened next. Three more cheers for Irving on this one.

[katieanyc · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

All of the classic Irving moves are satisfying: quirky family and townsfolk, beloved wrestling coach, dark but also nostalgia-filled prep school setting, just-short-of-traumatic sexual initiation, frequent interruptions in the characters' lives by the march of American history/culture, etc. But this is SUCH a project novel, and as a result, it begins to feel like Irving is only introducing new characters in order to have them break the sexual mold in some perfunctory way. Oh how I wish he would stick to childhood stories, where he remains unsurpassed.

[watty_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not top rank Irving, but close to it. I was surprisingly unengaged by the protagonist, as if Irving himself wasn't quite sure what he thought of him. It successfully checks all the boxes on the John Irving Trope index, but at the expense of something which I couldn't quite pin down - maybe there are too many similar characters, perhaps the erratic leaps in time just break the flow once too often.

I'm being harsh, I know - I still love the prose, and I think it's a great story, worth telling, but in all honesty, if it had finished one chapter sooner, I'm not sure I'd have noticed - those particular loose ends seemed to have got lost along the way, and to tie them up like that felt somewhat forced. Odd, since Irving's preferred modus operandi is to build back from the end - suggesting that was the end he had in mind all along.

Like I say, not top rank - Until I Find You deals with the missing father plot much more satisfactorily. A good, but not great, read.

[lynnb_64 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm a big fan of John Irving. I love his slightly offbeat characters and the contrasts he draws between them. In One Person was vintage Irving, but definitely not my favourite. I couldn't identify with the power Kettredge had over both William and Elaine, but I loved Miss Frost. I think the story wasn't as tightly written as usual...for the first time, I noticed just how long one of John Irving's novel was.

[tvordj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a really wonderful book! It's a coming of age story in the first half about a teenage boy, Billy, who realizes early on that he's bisexual. He gets "inappropriate" crushes on other boys, men and older women. It takes place in the late 50s and early 60s when he's young and then takes us through the rest of his life in less detail as he grows up and older.The story is filled with quirky characters, which Irving is well known for in his more famous books like World According to Garp etc. There's interesting characters like a cross dressing grandfather, a near-alcoholic uncle, an aunt and grandmother who are domineering women, a handsome bully schoolmate that both Billy and his best friend Elaine have a crush on and a transexual librarian, also someone Billy is infatuated with.The story is told by Billy who is looking back over his life and it jumps around a little bit, as if someone was telling you the story and is reminded of incidents, tells you, then gets back to where he was. It's not hard to follow.It does get a bit grim and sad when describing the Aids epidemic in the 80s as Billy looses a lot of friends, old and new.I think the book is very good at portraying an out of the ordinary life and how it affects him and his relationships, and how he and his life are affected by those around him, by his background and family and experiences as a boy.

[aramissciant · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a fantastic book and was a delight to read from beginning to end, even when it went into stories of very difficult times I still remember too well. Funny and sensitive and courageous and just so masterfully written. It constantly made me want to know these characters, to have chats with them, to listen to more and more of their stories.While I think this may well be Irving at its most courageous and unapologetic, I can see how this would not be a good entry point to his work for people who haven't read him (or for any person without an open mind and open heart). However, for readers with even a little tolerance or human empathy, this will be an illuminating, masterful and wonderful tour into a world not many have ventured into. I totally loved it.

[petterw_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am a huge and loyal fan of John Irving. However, this time I was a bit disappointed. I found In one Person one of his weakest and most detatched novels to date. Perhaps the subject matter is more shocking and groundbreaking to an American reader, but I just couldn't be moved by most of the characters, their stories and their challenges. There is little at stake for the main character, he passes through life being different and meeting some obstacles, but nothing much really happens. I get a feeling that Irving wanted to make a statement (important and timely enough) about gay living and how important it is that we accept variety- more than he wanted to write a novel about characters. In his 13th book I am also getting a bit tired of some of the recurring themes from his previous books: wrestling, New Hampshire, Vienna, main character a writer, etc. Still, no Irving book is worth ignoring, but if you really want to read some of his gems, start with his earlier books and work your way through at least 10 brilliant novels.

[mckall08 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I started "In One Person" looking forward to a sensitive, if humorous, treatment of LBGT issues in the life of protaganist Billy. His life is detailed from small town prep school into old age. I expected that Billy -self-identified as bisexual- would explore the range of sexual partners. The setting is an all male private New England school. Its drama productions give outlet to men or boys playing women and women playing boys. Wrestling also familiar territory for Irving weaves into the plot. I didn't expect that most everyone in his family is involved in some sort of sexual deviance along with various townies and school people. Is there something in the town water? Who needs the Haight or the East Village? And the town librarian? Well, I don't want to spoil it.What's more disappointing is most of those that stray from the sexual norm are portrayed as zanies. It's hard to take them seriously or care about the tragedies that ensue. Semi closeted part time tranvestite relatives are treated as comic stereotypes. They commit suicide and it's hard to care.There's a lot of sex going on of the mostly non-standard variety. The emphasis on extraneous oddities disserves the case for acceptance of diverse sexual identities. [to be continued]

[nivramkoorb · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Although many critics did not like Irving's previous 2 novels, I did. So when I read reviews that led me to believe that this book was superior to those, I was looking forward to this book. I was disappointed. Being the 10th novel I had read by Irving, I knew that I would enjoy it because it was Irving. Unfortunately, his use of quirky characters felt worn in this novel. The constant impact of minor characters on a person 50 years after they were in his life just gets old after a while. I just didn't get the sense of freshness in this novel. The description of the particulars of the aids epidemic seemed dated when written this long after the peak of the epidemic. I just never got a feel for what Bill(the main character) really felt. This is sometimes a problem in first person narratives. If you have read Irving before than you may like this, but if not then there are other books that he has written that are superior to this one.

[doondeck · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Irving's writing is, as always, superb. I don't think he portrayed Bill's self-awakening as thoroughly as he could. The part of the story dealing with AIDS was riveting, troubling and tender.

[sigmundfraud · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Contrived ending but well written with an interesting plot.

[maneekuhi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another excellent novel by John Irving. Sometimes funny, witty, insightful, other times sad, disturbing, even gruesome.....it tells the story of Billy from his birth in 1942 until recent times. We meet all the interesting people that he encounters, that shape his life from his Grandpa Harry who plays only female roles in local Vermont theater productions to Miss Frost who is the town librarian and one of Billy's first loves. Much of the first half deals with Billy surviving his family in every meaning of the word while trying to understand and deal with his sexual nature. He is a self-described bisexual but he doesn't want others putting labels on him, nor judging him, until they know him. Over the years we meet many of Billy's partners and get to know them for better or worse.He becomes a writer, a rather successful one, strongly influenced by all those relationships especially from his private school years. There is a big mood shift at the two-thirds point of the story when Billy begins to learn of the passing of several of his classmates, victims of the Viet Nam war. A bit later, other friends are among the early victims AIDS. Billy visits a classmate with whom he toured Europe just before entering college, and he describes in great detail all of the man's medical problems and symptoms. But Billy survives all this and in the final excellent chapters he comes to closure with critical characters who had been missing from most of his life. Throughout the book Billy cries for tolerance and understanding, and he touches on all of the issues that he and his GLBTQ friends live with and deal with. While I am not a total convert, I recognize an excellent story well told and I recommend it. Five stars.

[brianinbuffalo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's always a risky proposition when I pick up the latest novel of an author who has written one of my favorite books in the past couple decades. The bar is set high. Usually too high. This dynamic was at play with Irving's latest work. I was awestruck by "A Prayer for Owen Meany." "In One Person: A Novel" was a well-written saga that employed a good number of intriguing characters and explored some weighty issues. But I have to be candid. Midway through the saga that spans several decades, it became a bit tedious and even overly-preachy. In my estimation, he overused some devices, including his repeated references to Shakesperian drama. Still, Irving knows how to develop a story, layer-by-layer, then recount the tale in beautiful prose. It's a book worth reading.

[stbomb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I didn't enjoy this as much as "Last Night on Twisted River"...perhaps because I wasn't as familiar with all the other literature that had its own subtext in the book. However, I love how Irving can write a story about the entire course of a character's life. Absolutely worth a read, though not his favorite IMO.

[shazjhb · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A little long, a little predictable. The story was less complete. I think Mrs. Kitteridge was actually Mr. Kitteridge as a transgender. Good read. Not his best but not his worst.

[presto_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Now in his sixties, William (Billy) looks back over his life, his schooling, his friendships, and the many losses over the years. As a child with an absent father and an increasingly distant mother all might have gone badly for the young billy were it not for his grandparents, his easy going uncle and the arrival of the charismatic young man who was soon to be his stepfather. In fact it was his newly acquired stepfather, the handsome new English teacher at the Academy who helped set Billy on the course that was to become his life, kindling his interest in books and at the same time introducing him the the local librarian Miss Frost with whom the very young Billy instantly falls (and secretly) in love. But when Billy starts at the Academy he is also infatuated with one his fellow students, the good looking high flyer on the wrestling team, the over confident Jacques Kittredge. Billy learns early that he is bi-sexual, and has no problem with it.Billy takes us through his life and his love affairs with both men and women. Come the eighties the tragedy of AIDS takes its toll among many of his friends, and some of the writing here is especially touching and moving.Over the course of the novel there are a number of constant friends, and of course family, but we also learn of the outcome for many of those who we might have thought were forgotten over the course of time.In One Person is a wonderful read, with interesting and complex characters, we often do not know how complex until each is gradually revealed over the course of the novel. Billy himself changes over the course of time, always an endearing character he becomes more so as he becomes more empathetic as he ages. Beautifully written, one very soon feels confident in John Irving's hands that English will be treated with respect. It is a fascinating story with many surprises or revelations along the way; it is a novel the encourages understanding, tolerance and compassion; and it is quite simply a great read.

[runner56_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

John Irving's novels are recognizable "in general" by their mighty page content and some might not feel comfortable with the committment needed to finish such a wordy novel, but that would be unfortunate.In essence "In one Person" is a study of attitude and tolerance (or not) towards our individual sexuality and in particular it addresses variance in sexual preference/behaviour from what is perceived as normal. The story is told through the eyes of Billy Dean, his colourful family and their life in small town rural America. In particular special mention, and indeed praise should be directed at Miss A Frost, librarian, a wonderful lady with a secret, brave and courageous past.I love this story; it is offbeat, it is brave (encompassing the cruel burden of the aids epidemic and the destruction it reaped on a young mostly male population) it implores you the reader to rethink and question how we judge those who do not conform, and by so doing accept it is not wrong to be different. Highly recommended.