Rating: 
Summary: FANS PASS ON
Review: John Irving has long been one of my favorite authors, but this novel is unworthy of him. The two words that come to mind are
1) 2) pointless. The characters are extremely one dimensional, and there is so much sex one wonders if Mr. Irving's mate has taken vows. He seems so obsessed. There are some cute comic moments, but all in all my advice is:
Skip this one and reread Son of the Circus instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Like most Hollywood movies,
Review: this Irving novel has a wonderful front end, and is more than easy to put down by the ending. I found the Irving characters to be bizarre (par for the Irving course) and I'd be laughing out loud at descriptions of superficial news anchors, quirky Cambridge doctors, and Wisconsin cheeseheads. Once set up though, the plot weakens and drivels on and on toward a finish. My recommendation: borrow this book from your local library, or someone else who bought it at Amazon, read the first half, then go out and rent the Garp videotape. Nothing measures up to Owen Meany in the Irving ouvre. Certainly not this.
Rating:
Summary: Waiting to be put out of my misery!
Review: I picked up this book at my local ... bookstore ... because the title caught my eye, the backcover blurb drew me in, and because Irving's 'Prayer for Owen Meaney' was one of my favorite books. This one, however, was a major disappointment. The characters were shallow and undeveloped and parts of the storyline were just so ridiculous. I mean...the widow wants to connect with her dead husband one more time so she seduces (and becomes impregnated by) the man who is going to receive his hand? Somebody explain this to me!Sorry...he could've done better. Like other reviews I've read, the books was short, but painfully long. As a bedtime reader, it took me at least a few weeks to get through the book because I kept falling asleep while reading. So far, John Irving has been hit or miss with me. This was one was definitely a miss.
Rating:
Summary: Great opening, but fails to deliver
Review: While reporting a story from an Indian circus, Patrick Wallingford a television journalist has his left hand bitten off by a lion. This most dreadful event of his life is sadly enough witnessed by millions of TV viewers. From that moment on people start to call him "The Lion Guy". When he decides to have a 'new' hand the public interest becomes even greater and his career seems to be guaranteed. The viewers of his all-news network, better known as the "calamity channel", are eagerly anticipating a first view of his new hand. But what if the donor's widow demands visitation rights with the hand?In his tenth novel John Irving explores the answer to this question using his unique imaginative powers. Although the topic looks promising and a lot of the possibilities are neatly worked out, there are some weak points that make this book rather mediocre when compared to the "The World According to Garp" and "A Widow For One Year". The opening sequence, set in a circus fans may remember from "A Son of the Circus", is extremely powerful and engulfs the reader in an almost absurd parallel universe that nevertheless seems so utterly recognisable. Irving at his best plays with his characters and gives them each a compelling weakness that makes them so real, in an Irving kind of way, that is. Surely this strong opening is more than a good reason for opening this book. But the aftermath of the story fails where the first part excels. The author digs deeper into the personalities and makes them more realistic, more human. The absurd undertone of the first part slowly dies away, and I fear that this also loosens the grip on the reader's attention. The book is still a nice enough read, but it is a pity that Irving fails to deliver at the end.
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy this book!
Review: This book competes with "Hotel New Hampshire" for worst Irving book. He repeats, blatently, words and word themes through the book seemingly just to add girth to the tome and get it off to the publisher. Seems as if he had a great idea for a book, but really wasn't in the mood to write a book.
Rating:
Summary: Mr John, what happened?! You used to be interesting.
Review: When this novel was first published last summer, I discovered it when I walked into my local .... A new John Irving novel! Oh boy! I had been pleasantly surprised by "A Widow For One Year," and loved such Irving classics as "Garp" and "Owen Meany." "The Fourth Hand" should be a nice treat, right? Wrong. I found the characters to be superficial, not at all credible, petty, and... boring.
If you like reading books about people who are selfish, have sex, whine, have sex, love football, have sex.... (you get the picture)then I am sure you will enjoy this book. However, if you are an Irving veteran, I suggest you look elsewhere.
Rating: 
Summary: John Irving book is not a home run but easily 3rd Base
Review: Admitted I think John Irving is one of the best modern day novelist around so I'm biased before I even start. The book deals with the commercialism of modern journalism in a interesting way and the main characters womanizing parallels the shallowness and exploitation of the modern news industry. This makes the main character hard to like initially ( John Wallingford is major focus of this book) and this is the main problem with the book but the character does develop making the end of the book much more readable than the begining. As usual the black humor cuts deep into American culture and the interaction by the major principles is not as developed as Johns earlier work, it is still is better than 99% of anything else I've read. The read is defiantly worth it if you liked the authors earlier works and are prepared to make you way through the first half of the book.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and Fun
Review: I am one of John Irving's biggest fans - and have to say that I enjoyed The Forth Hand! Although not his best work, I still feel the story offered a lot to readers. It was very humorous - especially the bits on the bizarre hand doctor and Patrick's various sexual encounters. I also like the fact that Irving took inspiration from a 'real' story and turned it into one of his wildly entertaining and unlikely tales. This book is pure Irving - good fun and an easy read. I would recommended it to any John Irving fan.
Rating:
Summary: My first Irving book - I'll read more now...
Review: The style of his writing is great - I am looking forward to reading more books of the author who uses language that easily...
I think characters are very vague, the attraction of main characters does not make any scence, just as their relationship from the start. I found fascinating Irving's description of 'news making' business... Now, when I watch news, I am sure there are lots of scandals in every studio behind the scenes :p
Rating:
Summary: Very entertaining
Review: This is the first John Irving book I have read. By the end all I could wonder was why I hadn't read him before. I loved this book! The core story follows the transformation of a human being, but the side stories are great as well. There is also some wonderful satire thrown in. The Fourth Hand had me gripped early on. It manages to be funny while at the same time very moving. I can't wait to read more of John Irving's books.
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