I read most of Irving’s work and I’m a huge fan but this one was a real struggle getting through. But I finished it which must be an accomplishment in itself. But I’m glad I did because the beginning and the end was the best part.

I first read this book when I was about 14. It seemed amazing back then, as it was an excursion into history and kinda-sorta sex and the road and motorcycles and that whole enthusiastic, Dickens-hipster thing. Yeah, daddy-o.

The problem about reading it with an older eye is that it hasn't aged particularly well. The text is clunky and overcomplex, the characters pretty one-dimensional - Gallen is basically a big-hipped R. Crumb figure with less intrigue - and the whole atmosphere is a little too keep-on-truckin' to be read without cringing.

Plotwise, it's broken into then-and-now sections, where a plot to release animals from a zoo is salted through with personal history and general observation. There's a desire to evoke wartime Vienna in all its rebelliousness - but Irving adds too much improbability. It just doesn't ring true, and half the time the reader spends more time fighting through the drudgery than they do enjoying the story.

A bunch of my gripes with this book probably are because it's not the first Irving I've read, though it was the first novel he wrote. I think his sense of construction became a lot clearer in following works - and perhaps less artificial and showy. But here, the intercutting of WWII history with the modern (well, 1960s) day is a bit hamfisted, and seems to exhibit a little too much desire to impress the reader. These are things handled better elsewhere in his work.

Add to that and it's just not funny. At least, not intentionally. Humour is the one thing I associate with Irving, and it seems in short supply here. You can see the text reaching, but it sounds a bum note every time.

I didn't know until now that the book had been Irving's Masters thesis, rejigged after the fact. It reads like it. If you want to read more of Irving, this isn't the place to start.

LT/EN

Labai ilgai ieškojau pirmosios šio autoriaus knygos. Viltys buvo pakilę lig dangaus, tačiau skaitant supratau, kad gal ir gerai, kad pažintį su Irvingu pradėjau ne nuo šios knygos.

Visumoje, istorija gan įdomi - sudėtingai skaitoma, bet turėjo savojo Irvingiškojo žavesio. Na o tie trumpi skyriai - iš visų jo skaitytų knygų - tikrai, kad trumpaiusi!

Visos Irvingo knygos vienos iš tų, kurios sunkokai ir lėtokai skaitosi, bet labai džiaugiuosi perskaičiusi jo pirmąjį kūrinį. Rodos dar artimiau pažinau šį autorių.

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I have been searching for this book for ages. Naturally, my hopes were sky high.
But while reading the book, I understood that I was lucky enough to start my journey, getting to know and love this author, not with this book.

Overall story was ok. It was interesting and had raw "Irwing(ish)" charm. And those short charpters surely must be shortest of all of the books he wrote!

Irwings books were never an easy or quick read. I am happy to have done it and somehow feel closer to the author.

Lots of interesting themes touched on (freedom/captivity, war/peace, control/anarchy, love, generational divides and more I've no doubt missed), but somehow doesn't get to a grip with any of them. The book held my attention to the end, yet felt an unsatisfying read overall, hence the three star review.

Leider ein sehr enttäuschender Irving. Die Handlung selbst kann sehr kurz zusammengefasst werden und hatte für mich sehr wenig Reiz. Hinzu kommt, dass ich alle Charaktere als schwach ausgearbeitet empfand, einen noch dazu sogar als extrem nervig. Hoffentlich ist mein nächstes Buch von Irving nicht so enttäuschend.

Had to give up on this at it became unreadable. It's Irving's first work and shows the promise of his crafted style. But this story lacks a center of mass and any redeemable characters that you would be remotely interested in. He aggravates the storyline by jerking back and forth in time between two rather disconnected storylines. The focus, foreshadowing, and rounding of characters is much improved in his subsequent work.

I gave this horribly dull book over 150 pages. First there was an adventure on a motorbike which was okay but written with the first novel words of someone who will be great but not yet. Then came the politics of Austria just before WWII and the adventurer planning to set free the bears at a zoo. This part as compelling (the zoo part) but much shorter than the ramblings of an autobiography filled with boring prose and impossible names.
Had to put it down which I'm loath to do but life is too short to waste on this terrible book. Didn't know John Irving could be so dull.

A bit hit and miss, making it at times a slog. Starts as a road trip, the middle section is a long and confusing combination of historical events interspersed with one of the character’s history, alternating with surveillance of the zoo, the finish is the inevitable carnage that unfolds when the animals are released.
The worst thing is the narrator gets away with everything, and has no regrets.

3.5

Throughout it all, I thought that this book was difficult to read; at times it was poetic (not just the actual poems) so it was quite cryptic, but it also felt as if the book was directly translated from another language (syntax was weird). It doesn't help that the book is a little crazy and outlandish (so logic isn't going to help you much to decipher this book). You definitely need patience to finish this book; you will need to consciously give it a chance, and you will need to dig deep to get this book. One of the ways that I was able to enjoy and actually follow the story was reading it fast, almost as if I were on that motorcycle with them, travelling through Austria, with the wind in my hair; you can't stop to consider each sentence, it needs to melt into you, and then you can consider what just happened. (This book is like something on the tip of your tongue--almost recognizable until you try to pin it down.) I would say, though, that this method was exhausting for me, so I had to take breaks to finally finish the book. However, I think that this effect works; it was kind of neat to feel like you're on the ride with Siggy and Graff.

I also found this book very Wes Anderson-like, which was how I was able to continually commit to this mentally exhausting and silly book. The most obvious were the reactions and mannerisms of everyone in the book which were very unusual, as is usual in a Wes Anderson film. Siggy and Graff are both very philosophical and introspective just like a lot of Wes Anderson's characters. There's also a cultural and political thread throughout SETTING FREE THE BEARS, which, again, reminds me of Anderson's movies. And finally, of course, the crazy antics of which SETTING FREE THE BEARS is full, really struck me as to how perfect a Wes Anderson adaptation would be.

I did find both Siggy and Graff both quite endearing and was sad with what happened to them. I think, though, it was necessary, to add greater depth to the book. The sad stuff were like braking on the ride. You can't keep going forever or you'll crash into a wall, so those instances added a nice contrast to the aloof and silly tone of the book.

(Unfortunately, all the technical motorcycle jargon was lost on me, as I do not have any kind of expertise on this stuff, which was a pity, because I think that this would have added to a better appreciation for the book.)

Ok kirja moottoripyöristä.

There are instances in which Irving’s future storytelling brilliance is on display, but the pace of this early work felt a bit slow. The tale does build to a satisfying climax that is appropriately Irvingesque; comically absurd and inevitably tragic.

70% kirjasta oli aivan tosi tylsää tekstiä jonka läpi piti taistella. Mutta sitten se loput 30% oli ehkä luovinta ja kiehtovinta toiminta kohtausten kerrontaa mitä olen ikinä lukenut. Ihailen tuota 30% ihan helvetisti, mutta en voi antaa enempää kuin 2 tähteä jos 70% on ruosteista ripulia.