- Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Ballantine Books; Reprint edition (May 30 1990)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0345367413
- ISBN-13: 978-0345367419
- Product Dimensions: 17.4 x 10.6 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 181 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #697,938 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
It is 1967 and two Viennese university students want to liberate the Vienna Zoo, as was done after World War II. But their good intentions have both comic and gruesome consequences, in this first novel written by a twenty-five year old John Irving, already a master storyteller.
Ingram
Siggy and Hannes were disenchanted students and fellow conspirators. Astride a 700cc Royal Enfield motorcycle, they roamed the Austrian countryside. When Gallen, a lovely hitchhiker, joined them, they zeroed in on the Vienna Zoo--and Siggy's dream: setting free the bears! HC: Random House.
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First Sentence
I could find him every noon, sitting on a bench in the Rathaus Park with a small, fat bag of hothouse radishes in his lap and a bottle of beer in one hand. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
I could find him every noon, sitting on a bench in the Rathaus Park with a small, fat bag of hothouse radishes in his lap and a bottle of beer in one hand. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
It's all relative,
This review is from: Setting Free the Bears (Paperback)
Not my favorite of his but I appreciated this book more after some time had passed. Although it was a bit cumbersome at the time, the book has truly stayed with me, more than other Irving novels that I might have enjoyed more while I was reading them. But when reviewing this novel I think It really depends on whether you are comparing this book to other John Irving books or to other books in general. Sure it isn't "garp" or even "hotel new hampshire" but "setting free the bears " has got more to offer than plenty of highly rated books out there. Plus it's always interesting and perhaps enlightening to go back and read the early works of a beloved author.
2.0 out of 5 stars
early John Irving material confuses, bores...,
By lazza (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Setting Free the Bears (Mass Market Paperback)
'Setting Free the Bears' is an early work by John Irving that would have been normally out of print, and deservedly so, if it were not for his later fame from 'The World According to Garp'. In some ways the book is similar to 'The New Hotel Hampshire', a book I actually didn't care for, but lacks the humor or the huggable characters (or the curious incest sub-plot, thank goodness). So what exactly is wrong with 'Setting Free the Bears'?Well the plot itself is rather strange and somewhat incomprehensible. A young Austrian college student bumps into a very quirky fellow, and together the tour Austria on motorcycle. Just when you think the book will turn into a funny road story with an Austrian twist the author decides to split the story in two, with the a narrative of the main character camped out at a zoo and his strange friend narrating his (pre-war) family history. Very disappointing, and very dull. The ending concludes in comical fashion back at the zoo. But this fun ending is too little, too late. Bottom line: a very amateurish effort by the often outstanding John Irving. A definite miss.
1.0 out of 5 stars
The rest of you are lying; you couldn't finish it.,
By tonyscam "tonyscam" (Fort Worth, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Setting Free the Bears (Paperback)
There's no John Irving novel I don't love, except this one. Most of them, I have re-read about five times. Even "The Water-Method Man", one of his weaker novels, I read twice.I couldn't finish this one, not in THREE separate attempts, at three very different times in my life, three different frames of mind. There's nothing wrong with my reading skills. I'm forced to conclude the rest of you are lying. Siggy and Hannes are simply not characters one can care about, and the actual writing is wretched.
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