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The 158-Pound Marriage (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
by Irving, John
- Used
- very good
- Paperback
- Condition
- Very Good/No Jacket
- ISBN 10
- 0345417968
- ISBN 13
- 9780345417961
- Seller
-
Newport, Washington, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
U.S.A: Ballantine Books, 1997. Paperback. Very Good/No Jacket. 8vo - over 7. Trade Paperback in Very Good Condition. Blacked out name oninside of front cover and pages slightly toned, else fine. There are dark and sexual ambiguities in this erotic and ironic story about a menage a quatre in a New England university town. Irving shows how a one-to-one relatiionship is more demanding than a free-for-all. 154 pages. 8.25 x 5.5 inches. 1997, Ballantine Books, New York, New York, USA
Synopsis
The 158-Pound Marriage, author John Irving's third published novel, revolves around an unidentified narrator, a college professor, and a mediocre novelist. The narrator met his wife Utch, an orphaned survivor of WWII, in Vienna while doing research. They are a relatively happy couple; their family rounded out by two children. At a faculty party, they meet Severin Winter, a Viennese-born professor and coach of the college wrestling team, and his wife, Edith. The couple's interests (Edith is an aspiring fiction writer, and Severin has a commonality with Utch's upbringing in Austria) and resulting infatuations between the couples lead to after-dinner partner-swapping. At first, the swinging goes smoothly, but eventually, uneven feelings and obsessions throw the couples off track. The title, The 158-Pound Marriage , refers to the 158-pound weight class in wrestling, which Severin, the coach, feels is the most competitive. The book is small, only 176 pages, compared to Irving's later weighty tomes, like the 610 page The World According to Garp ( 1978) and The Cider House Rules (1985), which is 973 pages.
Read More: Identifying first editions of The 158-Pound Marriage (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
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Details
- Bookseller
- The Parnassus BookShop
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 023578
- Title
- The 158-Pound Marriage (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
- Author
- Irving, John
- Format/Binding
- Paperback
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- No Jacket
- Quantity Available
- 1
- ISBN 10
- 0345417968
- ISBN 13
- 9780345417961
- Publisher
- Ballantine Books
- Place of Publication
- U.S.A
- Date Published
- 1997
- Size
- 8vo - over 7
- Keywords
- EROTICISM IRONY UNIVERSITY TOWN
- Bookseller catalogs
- Literature;
- X weight
- 0 oz
Terms of Sale
The Parnassus BookShop
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About the Seller
The Parnassus BookShop
Biblio member since 2007
Newport, Washington
About The Parnassus BookShop
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Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- Trade Paperback
- Used to indicate any paperback book that is larger than a mass-market paperback and is often more similar in size to a hardcover...
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