john the stranger summary

Like, for instance, the stranger who recently arrived in town atop an Indian motorcycle. (That is not a politically incorrect description, but the actual brand of the bike.) Even if he hadn’t come into town on a motorcycle he would still be hard to miss; not a lot of white guys with Thor-like blond blocks make into Otter Lake. Weirdly, though he calls himself John, the last name offered in the introductory phase often differs from one person to the next. Even more oddly, he seems able to communicate with animals and has an especially prickly relationship with raccoons. Odder still: there seems to be a very unexpected relationship tying him to Lillian even as he begins to fulfill Maggie’s desire to stop being a lonely widow. John doesn't mind what other's think of him. He resists being someone else to appease others.