Rating: 
Summary: I feel that I failed!!
Review: I love John Irving and feel somehow that I have failed to get the depth of "The Fourth Hand". I just finished it and it just leaves me feeling empty and cold. However, I will always keep reading John Iring. That goes without saying.
Rating: 
Summary: the fourth hand: a good read...
Review: the fourth hand: i found the book a good read and i was involved in the characters in the story. it is a very enjoyable and intriguing story. i really liked it.
Rating: 
Summary: Irving is past his prme
Review: John Irving has not written a good novel since Owen Meaney. This book is not about dreams because it is a nightmare. Pat Wallingford is one of the most uninteresting characters I've ever encountered. The doctor and the housekeeper are the real interesting characters. This is a novel about eating and we could only have wished the lion took a bigger bite out of Patrick to spare us the agony. Too many of the minor characters read like acquainances of Irving's thinly veiled in fiction. Must be a fun inside joke for his friends to read, but otherwise don't bother.
Rating: 
Summary: Fluffy and decidedly un-zany
Review: Like others, I was first drawn into John Irving's world with "A Prayer for Owen Meany." While that has remained my favorite, I have also enjoyed the rich complexity and colorful characters that mark many of his other novels. However, this novel, with perhaps his wackiest premise yet, remained flat. The characters were never compelling, and the intriguing premise never fulfilled its promise.
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Summary: Irving does it again !
Review: Nothing like an old-fashioned fastball of a story from John Irving. In "The Fourth Hand", Irving weaves his unique characters into a novel that contains his standard mixture of seriousness and comedy along with a true-to-life theme. It really doesn't get much better.
Rating:
Summary: Chalk Me Up As Another "Zero If I Could"...
Review: Not even one hundred pages into this book, I couldn't believe I was reading a John Irving novel. This book is utter crap! Thankfully, many others share my opinion; I was beginning to think that once I turned 40, I lost my critical eye.Those who do not like this book have already stated the obvious: weak writing; annoying parentheticals on nearly every page; characters one could care less about, aside from the hand surgeon himself; a lack of the usual Irving charm...One could even make the case that the book is vulgar in parts. Allow me to echo another reviewer's comment about the book's editor. HELLO??? WHERE WERE YOU??? Irving should have been told to squelch this novel. Like nearly every other reviewer, I am a huge John Irving fan. Several years ago, when Irving moved to Toronto, I perceived him as an author looking to emulate the marvelous Canadian author Robertson Davies, with whom Irving had established a kinship. The Fourth Hand represents a significant deviation from Irving's usual writing and earns no comparisons to Robertson Davies. Had Davies been alive, HE would have told Irving to shelve this idea. Follow the recommendations of the other reviewers: read some of Irving's other books, if you are new to his work, before you read this trash. Irving can write better than this and we, his readers, deserve better. Every artist has a fall. Let's hope this book is Irving's fall from grace and that he will rise again with a newer and better work. He can't do any worse, for sure!
Rating:
Summary: Fair summer read
Review: See storyline above. I thought this was kind of a fun book to read. The character of Patrick Wallington as a woman loving reporter, though not highly likable, did grow on you. At times laugh out loud funny.At times not totally sensible. The story line did have a uniqueness only John Irving could bring to paper. I did enjoy the first half of the novel more, simply because there was more going on. Wallington's trip to japan--for the 'Future of Women' conference--was hilarious, as were some of his other rendezvous'. The subplot involving Dr. Zajac and his problems drew me in too. The character of Doris Clausen seemed rather shallow and I found it hard to believe that Wallington could even fall in love with this lady. The book did lack emotion and depth with some of the characters, but the plot and comical farce made up for some of that. An overall fun and quick read for the summer. Recommended.
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Summary: Does anyone see a parallel between U2 and Irving?
Review: John Irving has written many wonderful books, just ask him. The problem seems to be that he is all too aware of his success and seems to be completely captivated and awed by it. This is revealed in his memoirs and any interviews I have read. This book and his last (Widow) seem to be lacking something compared to Owen Meany, Garp, and even Son of the Circus. I see it as the same thing that happened with U2 (especially Bono). They made wonderful albums, just ask them. Then they became so enthralled with their success they began making self-conscious "pop" albums that paled in comparison to their earlier work. They both come across as "we're so amazingly talented compared to everyone else." In both cases, it seems becoming too impressed with yourself and being your own #1 fan may lead to a decline in quality.
Rating:
Summary: Not as complex as his other novels...
Review: I ran out to get this novel the day it was released....and I was slightly disappointed after reading it...As always, Irving did an excellent job portraying his characters and intertwined them well in the novel, yet it was missing his unique style of writing that we saw in A Widow for One Year and A Prayer for Owen Meany....I was disppointed in the ending to the novel..yet it seemed to depict the fact that this storyline went no where and ended up no where..Maybe next time John.
Rating:
Summary: A huge disappointment
Review: John Irving has given us so many wonderful novels that awarding him a mere one star is painful - but only as painful as this empty, unappealing book. Was it the challenge of writing a novel about a vapid and shallow man that even he could not admire or like that produced such a work? With each new Irving title you hope for an experience as rich as "Garp" or "Owen" or "Cider House." This work is at the very bottom of the Irving canon. Better luck to all of us next time.
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