- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; New edition edition (14 Nov 1991)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0747510563
- ISBN-13: 978-0747510567
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,006,421 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Setting Free The Bears (Black Swan)
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Product Description
Book Description
A masterpiece from one of the great contemporary American writers.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
John Irving's first novel concerns a plot to release all the animals from the Vienna Zoo.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an incredible, beautiful book, as so many of Irving's are. What sets this apart from his other work is the raw energy that cuts through it. There is an amazing vitality that I haven't seen in other Irving titles (and I've read them all and loved almost all) and it swept me away. Ok, so it doesn't have the overwhelming impact of Meany, or the breadth of his later work, but it crackles with energy, and his use of language is both electifying and lyrical. It reads like a young and brilliant author enjoying himself. To my mind, it is Water Method Man that really reads like a first novel - like a writer trying to establish himself by being contrivedly deep and introverted.
If you like his later work, or indeed any of his work, I'd recommend this wholeheartedly.
Format:Paperback
This book was an early selection by the Round the World Book Group in Edinburgh. It is not a work of literature with beautiful writing to discuss, or with great characterisation. It simply tells a simple story. It is not the best book by John Irving which I have read. I would say - only read this one if you are an Irving fan, or if you are a completist.
Format:Paperback
I read this a long time ago, and picked it up off the shelf again in anticipation of a trip to Vienna later this week. I had good memories of the style of this first novel by Irving, and the account of two friends on a road trip through Austria which opens up into memories of the Anschluss and Siggy's family history has held up well. This long central section, which is bookended by the account of the journey away from and back to Vienna, is probably my favourite part; historical events, accidents and incidents are described in terms of their effect on family members and other individuals, many of whom perished in capricious circumstances. This is movingly echoed in the statement which Irving quotes from the Serbian general Drazha Mihailovich at his trial after the war: "I wanted much, I started much, but the gales of the world have carried away both me and my work." It's a poignant image, which was also memorably used in Ian Fleming's Casino Royale.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A disappointed John Irving fan
I've read pretty much all of John Irving's books, with Owen Meany and Garp being among my favourite books of all time. Read more
Published on 28 Jan 2009 by John Irving Fan
setting free the bears
an earlier outing from john irving possibly my favourite writer ever. a good yarn as you might expect from the man who wrote the cider house rules,garp, a prayer for owen meany and... Read more
Published on 19 July 2005 by "icyyou"
Good, but no Owen Meany
After having read Garp, Owen Meany, Widow for a Year and Cider House Rules with such immense enjoyment, I was eager to read Irving's first book. Sadly, I was a bit disappointed. Read more
Published on 1 July 2000
Excellent
So much better than Garp. Youth enabled Irving to write with abandon. Setting Free the Bears is by far his best work.
Published on 12 Oct 1999
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