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THE 158-POUND MARRIAGE
by IRVING, John
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Book is about fine with remainder stamp on bottom of book block. The dust jacket has some bumping to the top of the spine and a/Near Fine
- Seller
-
Sherman Oaks, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Random House, 1974. FIRST EDITION in dust jacket. Book is about fine with remainder stamp on bottom of book block. The dust jacket has some bumping to the top of the spine and a small scrapped area at the bottom of the front flyleaf fold. The author's third book.
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
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Details
- Bookseller
- MONROE STAHR BOOKS
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 14198021
- Title
- THE 158-POUND MARRIAGE
- Author
- IRVING, John
- Book Condition
- Used - Book is about fine with remainder stamp on bottom of book block. The dust jacket has some bumping to the top of the spine and a
- Jacket Condition
- Near Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- FIRST EDITION in dust jacket.
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- Random House,
- Date Published
- 1974.
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Bookseller catalogs
- first;
Terms of Sale
MONROE STAHR BOOKS
30 day return guarantee, with full refund and for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
MONROE STAHR BOOKS
Biblio member since 2008
Sherman Oaks, California
About MONROE STAHR BOOKS
Specializing in modern first editions, novels about Hollywood, African American literature, and the Countculture.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Remainder
- Book(s) which are sold at a very deep discount to alleviate publisher overstock. Often, though not always, they have a remainder...
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