Rating: Summary: Never Fails Review: Irving never fails to entertain and frankly disturb. This one goes right on the shelf with Palahniuk's Fight Club and Klim's Jesus Lives in Trenton.
Rating: Summary: Best quality: Uniqueness Review: The story that Irving weaves combines a barage of eccentric characters: A man who loses his hand, his doctor, the man who's hand is donated to replace the lost hand, a wife who demands visitation rights to the transplanted hand... the list could stretch on and on.The most appealing thing about this novel was the uniqueness of the story - I can assure you that you will not read another even remotely the same. Fortunatly, the plot moves, so while the story itself lacks some of the depth that we are used to from Irving, it is not an effort to negotiate. Overall, I was expecting something more worthy of Irving's name.
Rating: Summary: Definately for Irving fans Review: If you've read any other Irving novels and liked them, then this is definately the book for you. Although the plot isn't as interesting as some of his other books, Irving's unmistakeable style more than makes up for it. There aren't many authors that like Irving can make an ordinary story so interesting to follow. Although definately not his best book, but still great anyway. I recommend it to any fan of Irving's work. 4 stars
Rating: Summary: A Real Stinker! Review: Although I have thoroughly enjoyed John Irving's previous works, this book did not live up to expectations. Irving's previous works generally include a measure of the bizarre, however, in this book, the plot and main character are simply not feasible. The main character, Patrick Wallingford, while quite bland and forgettable, is effortlessly attractive to all women. Almost every female he meets wants to take him to bed. The unrealistic way that the male-female relationships are portrayed in this book suggests a type of male late-life sex crisis. The plot basically follows Wallingford's journey towards a meaningful life, with a few twists and turns along the way. There are a few not-quite-redeeming features of the book in the form of the minor charaters, for example Angie, the over-the-top, gum-chewing make-up girl. However, the reader would be advised to choose one of Irving's previous books before this one. If, like me, you are an Irving fan, think twice before reading this book, and if you do go ahead, make sure you lower your expectations.
Rating: Summary: Not up to Irving's greatness Review: This novel had a lot of potential, really. It's a very original concept with a whole lot of room for social critique, something Irving is known for. But, in the end, it just sort of fizzed out. The character of Wallingford is never really developed beyond pre-hand surgery immoral egotist to post-hand surgery loving man. The change was too abrubt to be real, and that cause was not believable enough. I think Iriving is an author who works best with a large canvas. He said he wanted this novel to be short, romantic, and funny, and he succeded, to a point. Coming from, say, a 20-something just out of college, it would be an impressive first novel. But this is a later work by an established author, so I was expecting more. The writing style trys to be experimental, invoking the feeling of a newspaper ariticle, but it never really works. Instead, it just feels detached and overly analytical. I never felt like I really understood why any of the characters did what they did. This isn't to say that the novel was all bad though. It is a quick, entertaining read. You'll laugh out loud in a few parts. There's also a few parts of astute criticism of the American sensationalist media. But it's just far to forgetable.
Rating: Summary: Flat Review: Visitation rights for a hand? I soldiered on through this book hoping that it would get better, but to no avail. Irving is a good storyteller, and there are several entertaining passages in Fourth Hand. Unfortunately, this time around Irving doesn't manage to bring the quirky elements and offbeat characters together into a coherent novel as he had succeeded in doing in previous efforts (Garp and Owen Meany jump to mind). I read almost the whole novel on one long round-trip flight; had I not been a captive audience strapped into my seat at 30,000 feet I would have aborted the effort and selected something else form the bookcase. I'll give the book two stars for a couple of funny scenes, but overall not recommended.
Rating: Summary: An Immature Journalist "Grows Up" and Becomes Responsible Review: I enjoyed this book enough to read it in a single day, but I don't find myself thinking much about it since I finished it. It is the story of an immature journalist who grows up and transforms toward the end of the book. The book focuses heavily, but realistically, on the main character's sex life. He actually highly reminded me of someone I used to know, years ago, in his experiences. He could have been that person talking, in his experiences with women. I would not recommend this book to anyone who might be offended by reading continuously about the main character's sex life. Nevertheless, this is not really what the book is ABOUT. It's about the growth and transformation of the main character. I did find the main character interesting, and the minor characters were also quite interesting. I enjoyed the book, but it's probably not one I would recommend to my friends.
Rating: Summary: John Irving plays too much Review: This is my second Irving book (The first is THE CIDER HOUSE RULES and I was deeply moved), but I am disappointed indeed. "Irving plays too much." is what I feel after my reading. To be fair, the story worths -- it tells a story about how one find himself and start a new life. Yes, a bit cliche, but it does contain good paragraphs and good characters, and in these parts Irving is a master. But the jokes and black humor are always repeated and repeated and repeated and make you feel tired and disgusting and sometimes make you pity for Irving. Since line by line I can imagine clearly how Irving sneer at and contrive deliberately and satisfied with his words in front of his desk. I often wonder, why an excellent and natural author in the "The cider house rules" falls into such a self-contained bad-taste humor so deeply? Anyway, I will still read former books of Irving (The world according to the Garp, etc), since they are wildly and widely acclaimed. But I am not sure I will read his forthcoming books either.
Rating: Summary: Not Up to Irving's Standards Review: This book was decent, but simply wasn't the same caliber of writing as Garp, Hotel New Hampshire, or Owen Meany. The Plot was far too simple, the characters less developed (and far fewer characters) than in other Irving works. I came away from the book very "blah." It didn't move me. Not bad, but not his best, by far.
Rating: Summary: I'm an Irving fan Review: I'm a John Irving fan, so I wasn't at all surprised that I liked this book. This is one of his most lighthearted works to date. Several times I laughed out loud...one of the funniest images was that of a noted hand surgeon using a lacrosse stick to fling dog poo into the Charles River. Ridiculous, I know, but it cracked me up. This book also had a quote I loved: "Good novels and films are not like the news, or what passes for the news--they are more than items. They are comprised of the whole range of moods you are in when you read them or see them. You can never exactly intimate someone else's love of a movie or a book, Patrick now believed." That is so true. Recommendations are wonderful, but reading is such a personal experience. I think Irving's at a point in his life where he's truly happy. This book is hopeful, joyous and funny. It's also shorter than some of his more recent stuff - at about 300 pages, it's a good way to get a quick Irving fix.
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