The Imaginary Girlfriend
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The Imaginary Girlfriend
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Narrated by:
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Joe Barrett
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By:
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John Irving
About this listen
Dedicated to the memory of two wrestling coaches and two writer friends, The Imaginary Girlfriend is John Irving's candid memoir of his twin careers in writing and wrestling. The award-winning author of best-selling novels from The World According to Garp to In One Person, Irving began writing when he was 14, the same age at which he began to wrestle at Exeter. He competed as a wrestler for 20 years, was certified as a referee at 24, and coached the sport until he was 47. Irving coached his sons Colin and Brendan to New England championship titles, a championship that he himself was denied.
In an autobiography filled with the humor and compassion one finds in his fiction, Irving explores the interrelationship between the two disciplines of writing and wrestling, from the days when he was a beginner at both until his fourth wresting-related surgery at the age of 53. Writing as a father and mentor, he offers a lucid portrait of those - writers and wrestlers from Kurt Vonnegut to Ted Seabrooke - who played a mentor role in his development as a novelist, wrestler, and wrestling coach. He reveals lessons he learned about the pursuit for which he is best known, writing. And, as the Denver Post observed, "in filling his narrative with anecdotes that are every bit as hilarious as the antics in his novels, Irving combines the lessons of both obsessions (wrestling and writing)...into a somber reflection on the importance of living well."
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Sweetness
- The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton
- By: Jeff Pearlman
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 18 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 280
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 242
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 242
At five feet ten inches tall, running back Walter Payton was not the largest player in the NFL, but he developed a larger-than-life reputation for his strength, speed, and grit. Nicknamed “Sweetness” during his college football days, he became the NFL’s all-time leader in rushing and all-purpose yards, capturing the hearts of fans in his adopted Chicago.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Honest Accounting Of A Fascinating Life
- By RevInTampa on 08-19-15
By: Jeff Pearlman
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Dr. J Unabridged
- The Autobiography
- By: Julius Erving, Karl Taro Greenfeld
- Narrated by: Julius Erving
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 133
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 120
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 120
With his flights of improvisation around the basket and his towering afro, Julius Erving became one of the most charismatic (and revolutionary) players basketball has ever known. But while the public has long revered this cultural icon, few have ever known of the double life of Julius Erving. Dr. J traces the inner lives of the nearly perfect player and the imperfect man - and how he has come to terms with both.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I may overrate it, but I’m a hoops junkie!
- By @JWTheBlueprint on 01-29-14
By: Julius Erving, and others
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Their Life's Work
- The Brotherhood of the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers
- By: Gary M. Pomerantz
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 16 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 82
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 72
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 72
The Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s won an unprecedented and unmatched four Super Bowls in six years. A dozen of those Steelers players, coaches, and executives have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, and three decades later their names echo in popular memory: "Mean" Joe Greene, Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Mike Webster, Jack Lambert, Lynn Swann, and John Stallworth.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Book
- By cap on 07-18-18
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Play Their Hearts Out
- A Coach, His Star Recruit, and the Youth Basketball Machine
- By: George Dohrmann
- Narrated by: Emily Rose Speer
- Length: 15 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 72
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
The NBA has returned to prominence on the backs of phenoms like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Garnett. The media promotes them, the shoe companies pay them, and America applauds. But how exactly do such players reach the pros? What do they give up to get there? And what happens to those who fall short?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing book, fantastic narration.
- By Randy on 11-03-10
By: George Dohrmann
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Late to the Ball
- Age. Learn. Fight. Love. Play Tennis. Win.
- By: Gerald Marzorati
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 62
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 62
Being a man or a woman in your early 60s is different than it was a generation or two ago, at least for the more fortunate of us. We aren't old...yet. But we sense it coming: Careers are winding down, kids are gone, parents are dying (friends, too), and our bodies are no longer youthful or even middle-aged. Learning to play tennis in your 50s is no small feat, but becoming a serious, competitive tennis player at the age of 60 is a whole other matter.
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5 out of 5 stars
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It’s all here. Everything you need to know.
- By BENJAMIN on 11-21-19
By: Gerald Marzorati
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Snake
- The Legendary Life of Ken Stabler
- By: Mike Freeman
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 121
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 113
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 111
Ken "The Snake" Stabler was the embodiment of the original Men in Black - the freewheeling, hard-hitting Oakland Raiders. The league's first swashbuckling pass thrower, the mythical southpaw Southerner famous for come-from-behind drives late in the game, Stabler led the Raiders to their first Super Bowl championship in 1977.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great story about a childhood legend!!!
- By David Warnock on 07-18-19
By: Mike Freeman
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The Great Nowitzki
- Basketball and the Meaning of Life
- By: Thomas Pletzinger, Shane Anderson - translator
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 36
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 32
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Story5 out of 5 stars 32
The seven-foot Dirk Nowitzki is one of the great players in basketball history. With a devastating fadeaway and unexpected agility, the Dallas Mavericks superstar helped to pioneer the modern three-shooting game and became a global ambassador for the sport. Award-winning novelist and sportswriter Thomas Pletzinger traveled with Nowitzki for more than seven years, seeking the secret of his success and longevity. In novelistic detail, Pletzinger tells the dramatic story of how a lanky kid from the German suburbs became a top-five all-time scorer and NBA champion.
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5 out of 5 stars
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👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
- By Anonymous User on 08-22-24
By: Thomas Pletzinger, and others
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The Boys of Winter
- The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team
- By: Wayne Coffey
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 325
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 289
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 289
Once upon a time, they taught us to believe. They were the 1980 US Olympic hockey team, a blue-collar bunch led by an unconventional coach, and they engineered perhaps the greatest sports moment of the 20th century. Their "Miracle on Ice" has become a national fairy tale, but the real Cinderella story is even more remarkable. It is a legacy of hope, hard work, and homegrown triumph. It is a chronicle of everyday heroes who just wanted to play hockey happily ever after.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great, but...
- By S. B. G. on 02-13-18
By: Wayne Coffey
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Cinderella Man
- James J. Braddock, Max Baer and the Greatest Upset in Boxing History
- By: Jeremy Schaap
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 287
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 160
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 161
Lost in the annals of boxing is the sport's true Cinderella story. James J. Braddock, dubbed "Cinderella Man" by Damon Runyon, was a once promising light heavyweight for whom a string of losses in the ring and a broken right hand happened to coincide with the Great Crash of 1929.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent
- By MA on 06-05-05
By: Jeremy Schaap
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The Game: Harvard, Yale, and America in 1968
- By: George Howe Colt
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 66
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
On November 23, 1968, near the end of a turbulent and memorable year, there was a football game that would also prove turbulent and memorable: the season-ending clash between Harvard and Yale. Both teams entered undefeated and, technically at least, came out undefeated. The final score was 29-29. To some of the players on the field, it was a triumph; to others a tragedy. George Howe Colt’s The Game is the story of that iconic American year, as seen through the young men who lived it and were changed by it.
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5 out of 5 stars
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More than a game
- By Hebern on 11-05-18
By: George Howe Colt
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By the Grace of the Game
- The Holocaust, a Basketball Legacy, and an Unprecedented American Dream
- By: Dan Grunfeld
- Narrated by: Chris Lutkin
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 75
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 66
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Story5 out of 5 stars 67
When Lily and Alex entered a packed gymnasium in Queens, New York, in 1972, they barely recognized their son. The boy who escaped to America with them, who was bullied as he struggled to learn English and cope with family tragedy, was now a young man who had discovered and secretly honed his basketball talent on the outdoor courts of New York City. That young man was Ernie Grunfeld, who would go on to win an Olympic gold medal and reach previously unimaginable heights as an NBA player and executive.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Exceptional
- By Patrick Messing on 04-07-22
By: Dan Grunfeld
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Run to Overcome
- The Inspiring Story of an American Champion's Long-Distance Quest to Achieve a Big Dream
- By: Meb Keflezighi, Dick Patrick
- Narrated by: Jon Gauger
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 207
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 180
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 182
Meb Keflezighi is all about hope and second chances—starting with his very survival. The child of a small African country ravaged by a brutal war, Meb arrived in America with nothing but the clothes on his back, speaking no English and never having raced a mile. So how did he end up an A student, one of the most celebrated and respected athletes of his generation, and winner of the 2009 New York City Marathon?
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4 out of 5 stars
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You gotta love Meb! - but...
- By CynK on 01-29-13
By: Meb Keflezighi, and others
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Junior Seau
- The Life and Death of a Football Icon
- By: Jim Trotter
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 45
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 40
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 40
Tiaina Baul "Junior" Seau is widely considered one of the best linebackers ever to play the game. A 10-time All-Pro and 12-time Pro Bowl selection, Seau was picked for the NFL's All-Decade Team in the 1990s. His incredible career spanned two decades, during which time he played for the Chargers, Dolphins, and Patriots. In 2012, at the age of 43, Seau committed suicide with a gunshot wound to the chest. News of his death sent shockwaves through the NFL.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding Book!!!
- By Sherry Jones on 01-08-16
By: Jim Trotter
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Blood in the Cage
- Mixed Martial Arts, Pat Miletich, and the Furious Rise of the UFC
- By: L. Jon Wertheim
- Narrated by: Phil Gigante
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 154
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 115
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 114
Based on unlimited access to the Ultimate Fighting Championship and its rival leagues, Blood in the Cage peers through the chain-link Octagon into the frighteningly seductive world of mixed martial arts, which is exploding in popularity despite resistance from every corner. Wertheim focuses on Pat Miletich, a mixed-martial-arts pioneer and six-time UFC champion, who currently runs the most famous MMA training school in the world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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MMA Bible
- By Bret on 01-27-09
By: L. Jon Wertheim
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His Ownself
- A Semi-Memoir
- By: Dan Jenkins
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 68
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 61
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 60
The colorful, sentimental, funny, affectionate, cantankerous memoir by the most colorful, funniest, most cantankerous-- and probably the most revered-- sportswriter of the last fifty years. Dan Jenkins is accepted as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) golf writer of all time, wrote beloved bestselling novels and abused more corporate expense accounts than anyone who ever lived. It's a touching, laugh-out-loud tribute to the romanticism of old-time sportswriting-- and the glory days of sports.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Loved this book!
- By Flannery Abrahamson on 05-23-19
By: Dan Jenkins
What listeners say about The Imaginary Girlfriend
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Collin
- 12-15-22
Irving Is A Legend
If you enjoy one book by John Irving, then you love everything he writes. This book gives you insight into where so many of his novels stem from, his life.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 12-01-20
great story, narration too soft
Loved the story and narration, but when listening in a loud environment, the narrator's voice get's easily swallowed.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Hugo 719
- 02-04-22
amazing
Joe Barrett reads John Irving in the most wonderful way. I love listening to him read anything Irving. This book is like sitting down and listening to John tell you the story of his life. Amazing, enlightening, and enchanting. I loved it.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- susan grillo
- 05-23-18
John Irving did it again memoir nonfiction and to
I love every bit of it John Irving is one of my most favorite American authors where this Memoir is autobiographical to so many of his fiction lies books with fantastic imagination and characterizations funny whip with cynical and sardonic tones always a must-read for him
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1 person found this helpful