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Title: The Fourth Hand by John Irving ISBN: 0-345-44934-7 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 14 May, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.81 (250 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: A mediocre tale, poorly told
Comment: Having read, and mostly loved, all of Irving's previous works, I rushed out to get "The Fourth Hand" the day it was published. I just finished it and I agree with the previous reviewer: this was a real disappointment. In addition to the fact that it's a rather skimpy idea for a novel, the writing seemed extremely amateurish to me. A couple of times I asked myself if it was really John Irving writing.
The book is absolutely larded with cliches: "so to speak," "as it were," "was wont to say," and almost every paragraph ends with a distracting parenthetical aside. Was there no editor on the job?
An even bigger problem is that most of the story is told in a "once-removed" style. There are very few real scenes until the second half. The first half feels like a quick retelling of some other novel. This is especially disappointing from Irving because he has always been the master of storytelling. (Think of the orphanage scenes in "Cider House Rules" or the scenes about Jenny's early days in "Garp.")
If you're a true fan, you'll want to read this. After all, there are glimmers of the real John Irving here -- a scene in which a young lady nearly chokes to death on her chewing gum comes to mind. But wait for the paperback. If you haven't read John Irving before, please don't start here.
Rating: 2
Summary: a disappointment from irving
Comment: _The Fourh Hand_ is the only book I have read by John Irving that didn't raise goosebumps on my skin or cause me to cry. Not that those things are automatically required of a great book, but what I do require is being made to care. I found that as I read I didn't like Patrick Wallingford, the TV journalist ("Disaster Man") main character whose hand is eaten off by a lion, and didn't like the people surrounding him. Even after Patrick's humanization, presumably caused by the hand transplant and the "strings" that were attached, he seems shallow, more bemused by the fact he'd fallen in love than anything.
_The Fourth Hand_ is written in an acerbic comedic tone, ostensibly a treatise against the media and the news that transfixes us as a nation. Almost Swiftian, the novel might have made a better essay, possibly even without the love aspect which is supposed to be the redemptive force of the book but is not entirely believable. Great writers cannot be great all the time, and upon finishing all I wanted to do was re-read _The Cider House Rules_ or _A Prayer for Owen Meany_. First time Irving readers would be better off with one of his earlier works, and long time fans shouldn't expect too much.
Rating: 4
Summary: A middling effort by Irving is miles ahead of the pack
Comment: Book Review: The Fourth Hand, by John Irving
I borrowed this book from the library with the thought that, since Irving has written three outstanding novels in my collection (Cider House Rules, Owen Meany, and Hotel New Hampshire), I should probably read everything else he's written in case there are other gems in his life's work
The Fourth Hand is not such a gem, but nearly half the book was a delight to read.
Irving departs from the formula that has guided other of his works that I've read. In The Fourth Hand, the characters are not insulated from the real world; as a television field reporter with a degree of fame, protagonist Patrick Wallingford is as immersed in the real world as it is possible for a minor celebrity to be. He gains international notoriety when his hand is eaten by lions while covering a story at a circus in India. A significant time after the accident, Patrick receives a hand transplant. The widow of the donor, Doris Clausen, demands visitation rights with the hand, which is, after all, a still-living part of her husband. Patrick falls in love with Doris, perhaps because, on first meeting him hours before the transplant, she has sex with him in order to conceive the child that she and Otto never could.
The doctor who performs the transplant, Dr. Zajac, is an extremely interesting character who tries to develop a relationship with his son despite the best efforts of his ex-wife. Zajac's frumpy housekeeper is so moved by the doctor's feelings for his son that she falls in love with him, and transforms herself into a sexpot in order to gain his affection.
The second half of the novel tracks Patrick's efforts to develop a relationship with Doris after his body has rejected her late husband's hand. At the same time, Patrick's dalliances with women and the office politics of his television anchor job become entangled in these efforts and each other.
Most of Irving's novels track their protagonist from beginning to end; they are sprawling, and let you know how everything turns out. In this book, we get a section out of the middle of Patrick's life, and I was left wondering about the ending, and not in a good way. I would have preferred to see what contributed to the curiosities of Patrick's character; he is an affable man without any sense of "deepness," but we don't know why. The book tracks his development into someone with values and integrity, but there is something missing.
Despite these complaints, The Fourth Hand is an interesting read, and some of the scenes are absolutely delightful. As always, Irving finds a way to incorporate text from other authors; in this case, EB White's children's tales Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web share time with The English Patient. And the intricacy of certain of the characters should serve as a model for novelists everywhere. Dr. Zajac, who is unhealthily thin, a bird watcher, a former lacrosse player, a brilliant hand surgeon, a miserable observer of human nature, a struggling father, and more, is the prime example of how to make a character interesting and engaging.
Irving has tinkered with the formula that has made his writing such a unique joy; the deviations are, on balance, more negative than positive, but I hope that the experience will help him to produce more masterpieces.
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Title: The Imaginary Girlfriend by John Irving ISBN: 0345458265 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 03 December, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: A Widow for One Year by John Irving ISBN: 0345424719 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 23 March, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving ISBN: 0345361792 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 14 April, 1990 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Water-Method Man by John Irving ISBN: 0345367421 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 13 June, 1990 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The 158-Pound Marriage by John Irving ISBN: 034536743X Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 14 July, 1990 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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