The Fourth Hand

Rating:
Summary: Irving's second best book ever
Review: The Fourth Hand was a novel that I could not put down. I have recommended it to many of my friends. I think that Irving is one of the best writers of our time. The style and eccentricities are never to be forgotten. It is only topped by his novel A Widow for One year. Irving says what many of us only dare to think....Great writing.

Rating:
Summary: Lions and Cheeseheads and Hands, Oh My!
Review: First, I have to admit to being a Packer fan, so I may be unfairly prejudiced toward cheesehead influenced literature.
Now that I have made my confession, let me say that I thought this was a wise and funny book about the power of love.
Patrick Wallingford is a handsome, whitebread, serial adulterer. Patrick is a reporter who works for a tabloid TV "news" cable channel. Think MSNBC during the Diana or JFK Jr media frenzy. Patrick is covering the death of a circus performer who was crushed while trying to catch his wife as she fell from a trapeze. When Patrick inadvertently stands too close to the lions' cage, one of the beasts chews off his left hand. All of this is caught on tape and played and replayed for the avid public. Ratings soar. Patrick becomes known as "the lion guy".
Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, Doris Clausen, a Packer organization employee, watches the TV coverage of the incident, and begins having visions of donating her husband's hand to Patrick. When hubby soon dies in a freak accident, she sets about making her vision reality. Her only stipulation is that she must have visitation rights to the hand after it is transplanted to Patrick's left arm. Soon, under Doris's influence, Patrick becomes a better man.
The hand is transplanted by a prominent surgeon, Dr Sajak. Dr Sajak, his small, troubled son, a "poo eating" dog, and their young housekeeper, have their own story of redemption to tell.
It's a fine and funny book. It's about time that someone roasted the cable pseudo-news channels. Mary, Patrick's boss is the villian of the story, and she's a real shark, with a hidden agenda of her own.
It's not as good a book as "The World According to Garp", but writers cannot be expected to hit a grand slam every time at bat. This is a solid base hit.

Rating:
Summary: Hollywood Spoiled John Irving
Review: I really enjoyed The Fourth Hand, the new John Irving novel, it kept my attention and I never once thought of putting it aside. Still, it's certainly not his best. In many ways I think part of the problem was that it's simpler than most of Irving's work. It's not only shorter (about 300 pages, compared to his usual 500), but there are far fewer characters populating the pages than usual. And only one of them dies, and you pretty much know he has to die early on, or there can be no story. (Most John Irving novels track multiple generations of characters, and include many emotional death scenes.)
In some ways, I'm tempted to say that he was spoiled by his recent Oscar win for the screenplay to "Cider House Rules." The simpler, almost stripped down, nature of The Fourth Hand reminded me of how one might adapt one of his longer novels into a cinematic form.
For John Irving fans, the book may be a bit of a let-down, but it's still probably better than 95% of what you'll find on the shelves of your local book seller today. I almost gave this three stars, then realized that three is only because of my too-high expectations from John Irving. If anybody else wrote this, I would give it four stars without question. Recommendation: If it interests you, certainly read it. But if you want to know what all the hype is about John Irving, you're better off with "Cider House Rules," or "A Prayer for Owen Meaney," or "A Widow for One Year," or the classic we all agree on, "The World According to Garp."

Rating:
Summary: The Fourth Hand
Review: I read a lot, I mean a lot, a lot....and this is the first book I have ever wanted to give a review to....I mean I feel I have to give a review, I feel compelled......
I'm disappointed and I expect that many fans of Irving are also disappointed. This book really misses the mark. Sure we know that not every book can be an Owen or a Garp.....but jeez, Irving should know better and so should his editor. When something falls this short it just shouldn't be released. Maybe it makes good business sense to releaes it but from an artistic perspective it goes against the grain.
In trying to meet a deadline or a contractual agreement we are left with The Fourth Hand. In trying to be too clever we have only The Fourth Hand. A story that struggles to take meaningful shape but never does. A story that tries to shape interesting characters but never does.
Oh, I'll keep reading Irving though because I know what truly great writing he is capable of.

Rating:
Summary: Irving is Back on Track
Review: .... I too, have read most of Irving's other books. Some, like Owen Meany and Cider House Rules are masterpieces. He lost me with Son of Circus. He is right back in the saddle with The Fourth Hand. I wild, imaginitive ride. The writing was so discriptive, I could visualize the entire story in my head, yet I couldn't imagine a movie doing it justice. I have recommended this to many.

Rating:
Summary: An Enjoyable Read!!!
Review: I felt compelled to write a few words about this latest John Irving book after scanning the poor reviews other customers had written. This is John Irving! He's always been a bit quirky with his stories. And this book is no exception...it is a most unusual story of a man losing his hand to a hungry lion and finding love. If only I had such imagination! Personally, I thought it was great and read it very quickly. Unlike one reviewer, I loved how one character was obsessed with the Packers because in Wisconsin there are people like that. I also liked the way he incorporated timely news events into the storyline and got his point across about how the news is handled in this country. Not every book can be "Cider House Rules" or "The Great Gatsby" for that matter. I read to unwind and get lost in a story and I say thank you to John Irving for giving me a few hours of enjoyable escape from the world.

Rating:
Summary: Sub par Irving ... entertaining but insignificant
Review: Not a great book - certainly not when one considers Irving's other achievements - but an entertaining read nonetheless. Patrick Wallingford makes for an amusing anti-hero, a well-intentioned lothario who comes to find love in the aftermath of a horrible (though comically rendered) "accident". Aside from some laugh out loud moments, there really isn't much here but an amiable narrative that continues along to its fairly predictable conclusion. Characterization, usually one of Irving's hallmarks, isn't in over-abundance here. Doris Clausen is likeable in contrast to the novel's other female characters who are portrayed as either shrill harpies, lonely middle-aged women, gum-smacking bimbos from Queens, or buxom Amazonian sex kittens ... all more-or-less sex obsessed. (Think Philip Roth, though without his significance.) Irving weaves this all together with a seeming running commentary on the degraded status of American television journalism. The commentary is there but it isn't particularly noteworthy or profound. Still, I was entertained and kept turning the pages, though for a novelist as celebrated (deservedly) as Irving, this is poor praise indeed.

Rating:
Summary: It's Sure Not "Garp"
Review: I'm a big John Irving fan, and I've read almost all his books and enjoyed every one; some more than others, but each one was a worthwhile read. Not this one. I have to confess right up front that I was so disappointed in this that I never finished it. It was a big waste of time. I guess I might be getting alittle tired of all the contrived "coincidences." Don't bother buying it; Pick up a paperback copy at a neighborhood yard sale (the literary equivalent of going straight to video!).

Rating:
Summary: Un-bear-able
Review: I had bad expectations for this book as soon as I heard that the main character loses his hand to a lion, not the trademark John Irving bear. I was right. This is easily Irving's worst book. The characters are uninteresting and the plot is nonexistent. The sex scenes don't tell you anything about the lead character; they're just stuck in there in order to have sex scenes. He is obviously trying to make some statement about the media; what it was, I couldn't figure out. Do yourself a favor: read Garp, read Hotel New Hampshire, read Owen Meany, but leave this stinker on the shelf. Heck, even Son of the Circus was better than this. John, do US a favor next time and stick with what you know - quirky but lovable characters, New England, bears, wrestling, Vienna...

Rating:
Summary: Last Irving book I'll read
Review: Very little plot and character development went into this book. Book seems to revolve around sex not the lives of the characters. I would strongly un-recommend it.