{"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\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn Irving\u003c\/b\u003e has been nominated for a National Book Award three times--winning once, in 1980, for the novel \u003ci\u003eThe World According to Garp\u003c\/i\u003e. 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 \u003ci\u003eThe Cider House Rules\u003c\/i\u003e--a film with seven Academy Award nominations.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Random House Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50923967250706,"sku":"9780345418005","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_124dfde5-5590-49b7-905f-15537f5a4475.jpg?v=1738966490","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-water-method-man-9780345418005","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}