John Irving's 11th novel is about an actor named Jack Burns, son of tattoo artist Alice and church organist William. William departed after fathering Jack, and Alice has been seeking him all these years--as has Jack. At the end of the novel Jack not only finds his father but discovers truths that change him profoundly. In between, he takes part in a series of sexual adventures, in some of which he is abused, and also becomes an acclaimed screenwriter as well as an actor. Irving is always a heavily autobiographical writer who relentlessly homes in on his obsessions, but more events than usual in this novel--which he spent six years writing--overlap with his own, including stints at Exeter (where his father was a teacher) and the University of New Hampshire, as well as his screenwriting career and, as he has said in interviews, the sexual molestation he experienced as a child. Like so many of Irving's novels, including his acclaimed THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP, this is a story of violence, dysfunction, and calamity in the life of a fatherless only child who is desperately trying to undo the psychic damage that has blighted his life.