The 158-Pound Marriage [Mass Market Paperback]

John Irving (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 14, 1990

"Irving looks cunningly beyond the eye-catching gyrations of the mating dance to the morning-after implications."
--The Washington Post

The darker vision and sexual ambiguities of this erotic, ironic tale about a ménage a quatre in a New England university town foreshadow those of The World According to Garp; but this very trim and precise novel is a marked departure from the author's generally robust, boisterous style. Though Mr. Irving's cool eye spares none of his foursome, he writes with genuine compassion for the sexual tests and illusions they perpetrate on each other; but the sexual intrigue between them demonstrates how even the kind can be ungenerous, and even the well-intentioned, destructive.

"One of the most remarkable things about John Irving's first three novels, viewed from the vantage of The World According to Garp, is that they can be read as one extended fictional enterprise. . . . The 158-Pound Marriage is as lean and concentrated as a mine shaft."
--Terrence Des Pres

Editorial Reviews

Review

"One of the most remarkable things about John Irving's first three novels, viewed from the vantage of The World According to Garp, is that they can be read as one extended fictional enterprise. . . . The 158-Pound Marriage is as lean and concentrated as a mine shaft."
—Terrence Des Pres

"Irving looks cunningly beyond the eye-catching gyrations of the mating dance to the morning-after implications."
—The Washington Post


From the Trade Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

8 1-hour cassettes --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (July 14, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 034536743X
• ISBN-13: 978-0345367433
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.7 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #669,811 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #82 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Domestic Life

More About the Author

John Irving published his first novel, Setting Free the Bears, in 1968. He has been nominated for a National Book Award three times-winning once, in 1980, for the novel The World According to Garp. He also received an O. Henry Award, in 1981, for the short story "Interior Space." 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 The Cider House Rules-a film with seven Academy Award nominations. In 2001, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Last Night in Twisted River is John Irving's twelfth novel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 158 pound novel, July 11, 2001

By 

lookingin2you "lookingin2you" (The Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The 158-Pound Marriage (Mass Market Paperback)

"The 158 Pound Marriage" is another example of John Irving at his best. He masterfully explores the consequences of infidelity in a modern marriage through a story of two couples, each in love with another's spouse. Though the wrestling imagery can get tiresome after a while, it's a fitting theme for a book whose characters are wrestling with the choices they have made in their marriages. The characters are all well developed, and the non-linear plot flows with ease. The one warning I would give is not to pick up this book looking for another "Garp." There is, was, and will always be only one "Garp." Let "The 158 Pound Marriage" stand on its own merits and you will not be disappointed.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Only for the true Irving fans, May 15, 2005

By 

Jessica Lux (Rosamond, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The 158-Pound Marriage (Mass Market Paperback)

After falling in love with Irving's more well known works, I went back to read his earlier novels. This is a decent read, but clearly less well developed that something like The World According to Garp, or A Prayer for Owen Meany. I wouldn't recommend it as your first Irving book.

We have some of the same plot elements that are seen again and again in Irving's works--life in Vienna, wife-swapping, wrestling, and prostitutes in Europe. The subject of Vienna is given a much more beautiful treatment in The Hotel New Hampshire, in my opinion.

Children are an afterthought in this novel. They were written in only when convienent and completely ignored when more adult matters were at hand.

The book is darkly tragic, more dark than other Irving novels. I didn't find the beauty of being human as a relief from the tragic undertones. Enjoy this if you are desperate for more Irving, but try some of his later works if you want a better read.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Mind of a Menage a Quatre, September 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The 158-Pound Marriage (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)

John Irving is a mastermind for rich characters. From the get go, he engages the reader with the less than pleasing imagery of a young Austrian girl, Utchka, who experiences the torture and and murder of her family by Russians from inside the belly of a gutted-out cow. It kept me reading! By intertwining the disturbing pasts of two married couples as they embark on a menage a quatre, Irving leads you through the mindful manipualtions and selfishness that inevitably follow the couples in their quest for open sexuality...or is it? Extremely saucy, all characters are completely unique and interesting. Irving's use of the wrestling metaphors through the eyes of Severin Winter,the washed up wrestling coach, are completely obtainable to those,like myself, who are totally negligent of wrestling terms. And of course, like any long standing novel should, Irving leaves plenty of questions unanswered about marriage, fidelity, and the value of trust. This was my first introduction to Irving, mostly because "Garp" and "Owen Meany" were checked out at the Library. The 158-Pound Marriage truly lives up to his more well-known novels!