Setting Free the Bears: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle) - Softcover

Irving, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345417984 ISBN 13: 9780345417985

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group, 1997

Synopsis

“Truly remarkable . . . encompasses the longings and agonies of youth . . . a complex and moving novel.”—Time

“Astonishing . . . a writer of uncommon imaginative power. Whatever [John Irving] writes, it will be worth reading.”—Saturday Review

It is 1967. Two Viennese university students, Siggy and Hannes, roam the Austrian countryside on their motorcycles—on a quest: to liberate the bears of the Vienna Zoo. But their good intentions have both comic and gruesome consequences in this first novel from John Irving, already a master storyteller at twenty-five years old.

“Imagine a mixture of Till Eulenspiegel and Ken Kesey . . . and you've got the range of the merry pranksters who hot rod through Mr. Irving's book . . . tossing flowers, stealing salt shakers, and planning the biggest caper of their young lives.”—The New York Times

About this title

About the Author

John Irving has been nominated for a National Book Award three times—winning once, in 1980, for the novel The World According to Garp. In 1992, Mr. Irving was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2000, he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules—a film with seven Academy Award nominations.

From the Back Cover

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.


From the Paperback edition.

Edition details

• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0345417984
• ISBN 13: 9780345417985
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 304