Rating: 
Summary: a major flop
Review: I picked this book up because the title caught my eye and I had seen some of Irving's work. I was truly dissapointed. The idea seemed to be a good one but the story development was awful. I found all the characters to be annoying and shallow. I finished reading it in hopes that it would redeem itself at the end and again was dissapointed. The size of the book could have been cut in half if the author had not kept repeating himself over and over and over. This is by far the worst book I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: I could feel my nails growing...
Review: I purchased this latest Irving edition at the airport knowing that I had a ridiculously long flight ahead and nothing to read. I was excited to see a shorter work than usual from this author and knew I could finish it before I reached my destination. My God, was I ever BORED!! At no time during the flight did I feel one ounce of anything for a single character in this book. The writing was just as dull as the plot and I think Mr. Irving was having another midlife crisis while writing this one. The Readers Guide in the back of the book is more interesting. It attempts to explain why Mr. Irving is patting himself on the back for penning this disaster. He boasts of his incredible use of wit and humor, but it fails to come across the pages. Stick to bears, wrestlers, and whatever; but give up on the humor.
Rating: 
Summary: Only fair, and definitely unbalanced
Review: You don't even have to check the title page when you see the plot summary: reporter for sleazy cable news operation gets his hand bitten off by a lion, and a surgeon offers his service if a donor hand is found. One is, only the widow of the donor demands visiting rights. This has to be a John Irving novel, right? And it is of course. Question 13 in those ditsy little discussion group questions that seem to be appearing at the end of every paperback novel these days asks you to ponder this: "In what way does this novel have elements of a fairy tale or fable?"For two-thirds of the way through, the answer seems obvious: all ways. Mr. Irving has created a surrealistically marvelous, portrayal of the news media and the people who populate it (the action in the novel is set against real-life events such as a Super Bowl game the Green Bay Packers lost and the weekend John F. Kennedy Jr. died). Patrick Wallingford, the victim, known forever after to the public as "The Lion Guy," manages to sleep with nearly every woman he becomes involved with, the widow of the man whose hand Wallingford has been given seems somewhat demented, while the hand surgeon himself, unhappily divorced, seems more obsessed with doggydo than hand surgery. In short, everyone in Wallingford's world seem at least slightly dysfunctional. But then in the last third, it all goes wobbly and sentimental, as the action moves from the Boston-New York axis to Green Bay, and the character of the widow, Doris Clausen, becomes (just when you were imagining Drew Barrymore playing her in the movie version), well, Rene Zellweger, while Wallingford--who you've been imagining as Jim Carrey--morphs into Robin Williams. The last two chapters slog on interminably. It's "love stuff" time. And sadly, as Mr. Irving's author's note at the end indicates, this was intentional. Indeed, question 14 asks you: "Would you call 'The Fourth Hand' a Love Story'? Why or why not?" Well now! As the cable news channel satirized here would no doubt trumpet, "we report, you decide." Notes and asides: Mr. Irving gets moon phases right (unlike so many authors): a moon two or three days from full will indeed set at about 3:00 a.m.
Rating: 
Summary: "Hand" Rejected
Review: What can one say about The Fourth Hand? Here we have a fairly humorous and cynical farce, severed in the middle and transplanted onto an overly sentimental and improbable romance. The graft is forced, and even the highly potent immunosuppressive nature of Mr. Irving's writing talent cannot make it hold. For a few chapters it hangs on, looking strange but remaining functional. A few nerves even start to show feelings. But before long it begins to itch and emit an unusual odor. By the end of the book, it has turned a sickly shade of green, and the reader wishes it had never taken place. The most bizarre part of this already unusual book is the notes/commentary section at the end, where the author comes across as incredibly pompous and conceited. He confirms your suspicions that the book was dashed off between other projects. Most incredible is the inclusion of a dozen or so "questions for book club discussion", as if this book had enough literary merit to warrant discussion beyond "was it worth the time it took to read it?"
Rating:
Summary: Funny, entertaining, but ....
Review: This book is funny and entertaining, and includes several laugh-out-loud passages. I like the story, although it is not as dynamic as I would expect, knowing that the auther is John Irving. Generally I am a big Irving fan, and I think that 'A Prayer for Owen Meany' and 'Son of the Circus' are fantastic books, maybe even modern classics. This one doesn't quite measure up, it's just too rough around the edges. Still, it's enjoyable - just don't expect the same quality (but it puzzles me why Irving would release such a book when it is clearly so much less of a literary effort....??)
Rating: 
Summary: Sweet and sad and goofy?
Review: Can a book be goofy, ironic, sweet, romanic and sad? This one can. I've never read anything quite like it and am now interested in reading more Irving books to see what other surprises he may have in store. Unlike other reviewers, I did care about the characters and while they were broadly drawn at first, Mr. Irving brought them to life. It is true that we often spend a lot of time looking at the surfaces people show us, totally unaware of how deep they really are--that's one of the very profound things this very funny book has to say.
Rating:
Summary: Different, but good
Review: Readers and fans of Mr. Irving's previous novels will recognize after reading only one chapter of The Fourth Hand that it's not the same as works past. That's not to say Mr. Irving is trying to change ground-breakingly into Stephen King or Tom Clancy, this one is just different. Not better, not worse, just different. It definitely works! The book begins with "absurd" and subtly comic writing (thus all the parenthesis) and kind of morphs into a love story, but not such that The Fourth Hand would ever be confused with something by Nora Roberts. Granted, there is a fair amount of sex in this novel, but Mr. Irving also incorporates current events, sports figures, and tart commentary on his seeming displeasure with contemporary news reporting in such a way that the reader almost forgets as he/she is reading that there is much, much deeper meaning here. If you've ever found love in some place you wouldn't possibly have imagined, then you will definitely appreciate this novel. Don't go into this novel presuming it will be like the rest of Mr. Irving's work, and if you don't, you will finish reading this novel with a biting sense of "good book melancholy." These are characters that you will definitely miss, and will probably return to over and over again.
Rating:
Summary: Far from his best work
Review: Having read Owen Meany, Widow for One Year, and Trying to Save Piggy Sneed, I was becoming quite fond of Irving's work, vowing to read as much of it as I could. With enthusiasm, I picked up The Fourth Hand was very disappointed. As another reviewer mentioned, much of this book is interupted by parenthetical phrases. It comes as no surprise then, to find out that Irving was writing this novel at the same time he was writing the screenplay. The book suffers because of it. Creative Writing 101: First Rule: "Show Don't Tell". With the abundance of parenthetical phrases, Irving summarizes when he should add more dynamicism to the characters. By using summary, the third-person narrator becomes intrusive and gives you the feeling that Irving doesn't trust the reader, rather treating him/her as a movie watcher. With 70 pages left in the book, I just wanted it to be over. The characters were flat and the plot was predictable. The story, however, had great potential. With a little more effort this book could've been wonderfully consistent with what readers have come to expect from Irving. Maybe the movie will be better.
Rating:
Summary: More good Irving
Review: After having read so many harsh reviews of this book, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was a really good novel. While not Irving's best (my personal favorites are Garp, Owen Meany and A Widow for One Year), this is nonetheless a well-written and fun book. Lighter in tone than most of his novels, this story focuses on the characters involved in a hand transplant, particularly the recipient and the donor's widow. A subplot in the first part of the book involves the hand surgeon and the comic events in his own life. Finally, there is the donor himself, who only appears on a few pages, but whose presence, both physically (with the donated hand) and spiritually affect the other characters. Although not a comic novel, this does have a lot of humor. Besides the aforementioned subplot, there are also a lot of digs at TV journalism. In the second half of the book, the humor decreases as events get more serious. I don't have any real problems with this book, other than that the widow is a little less likable than I think she is intended to be. Other than that, I found this to be a great book and well worth my time.
Rating:
Summary: John Irving has forsaken me
Review: I can't begin to express the disappointment I felt after finishing The Fourth Hand. Up until this point Irving's writing has been consistently fabulous. A Prayer For Owen Meany is pure genuis, closely followed by masterpieces such as The Hotel New Hampshire and The World According to Garp. The Fourth Hand was no where near the quality of writing Irving is capable of. The narritive was easy to follow but felt lackluster and deviod of spirit, soul, and heart. Irving is typically a master when it comes to characters yet The Fourth Hand's cast has no staying power and the reader forms no real attachment to anyone. They are, for the most part mindless and dull, making the book an unenjoyable read. Constantly waiting for something to happen, the reader is never rewarded for continued reading. The Fourth Hand has very few elements that comprise a typical Irving piece. There are no bears, wrestling, Vienna, midgets, transvestites, or orphans. The classic themes of loss, love, revenge, sex, and fear for one's children are all there yet are not weaved together in the magical way that past works have been. The writing style itself also leaves much to be desired. Pick up anyother piece of Irving and you will see what I mean. Writing is a craft and Irving is usually a master craftsman yet this time something is off kilter. All and all this is not a bad book but compared to the rest of his writing, John Irving has failed to live up to the high standards he has set with his past work. Hopefully this is just a fluke and the next will be up to par.
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