{"product_id":"the-water-method-man-9780345418005","title":"The Water-Method Man","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"John Irving, it is abundantly clear, is a true artist.\"--\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFred \"Bogus\" Trumper has troubles. A divorced, broke graduate student of Old Norse in 1970s New York, Trumper is a wayward knight-errant in the battle of the sexes and the pursuit of happiness: His ex-wife has moved in with his childhood best friend, his life is the subject of a tell-all movie, and his chronic urinary tract infection requires surgery. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTrumper is determined to change. There's only one problem: it seems the harder he tries to alter his adolescent ways, the more he is drawn to repeating the mistakes of the past. . . . \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWritten when Irving was twenty-nine, Trumper's tale of woe is told with all the wit and humor that would become Irving's trademark. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Three or four times as funny as most novels.\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e--\u003cb\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eThe Water-Method Man \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Friendship, marriage, and family are his primary themes, but at that blundering level of life where mishap and folly--something close to joyful malice--perpetually intrude and distrupt, often fatally. Life, in [John] Irving's fiction, is always under siege. Harm and disarray are daily fare, as if the course of love could not run true. . . . Irving's multiple manner . . . his will to come at the world from different directions, is one of the outstandint traits of \u003ci\u003eThe World According to Garp, \u003c\/i\u003ebut this remarkable flair for . . . stories inside stories . . . isalready handled with mastery . . . and with a freedom almost wanton in \u003ci\u003eThe Water-Method Man\u003c\/i\u003e [which is Garp's predecessor by six years].\"\u003cb\u003e--Terrence Des Pres\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Brutal reality and hallucination, comedy and pathos. A rich, unified tapestry.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eTime\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Ballantine Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/23\/1997\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780345418005\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 288\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.58lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.29h x 5.58w x 0.78d","brand":"John Irving","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43084090966197,"sku":"9780345418005","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_16085eb4-1d21-4f02-ac0f-314e37c35a4e.jpg?v=1692110148","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-water-method-man-9780345418005","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}