Setting Free the Bears - Paperback

by John Irving (Author)

"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.

Front Jacket

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.

Author Biography

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.