About this item
"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 ReviewIt 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.
About the Author
John Irving published his first novel, Setting Free the Bears, in 1968. He has been nominated for a National Book Award three times-winning once, in 1980, for the novel The World According to Garp. He also received an O. Henry Award, in 1981, for the short story "Interior Space." 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. In 2001, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.For more information about the author, please visit www.john-irving.com
