Rating: 
Summary: In Memoriam
Review: It is with great sadness that I have to announce the passing of John Irving's writing style. He used to be my favorite author. He isn't right now.Allow me to explain. The story isn't THAT bad. There are some flashes of originality, but the whole affair is something Irving's writing has never been before - predictable. The ending is rather clear after some pages, and the detours we have to travel to get there are annoying.The main character is rather stupid and stays that way. After lots of successful books, Irving uses an omniscient point of view now which -well- isn't really omniscient. How the narrator knows the exact thoughts of an character suffering an accident but can't explain why he suffers scratch on his hand is beyond me. That wouldn't be so bad if he didn't feel the need to explain to us that there is no way of knowing where the scratch came from, that we will never know and so on. Another really annoying new mannerism (and I hope this word exists in English, me critizising a world famous author and all) is the use of parentheses. There are many, many words in parentheses in this book and they almost always convey totally useless information. Sometimes they are used to explain a charcter's actions or correct an apparent factual error, as if the editor's notes critizising have been included in the novel. If something happens, the author feels it is necessary to explain everything to us. There are looong passages detailing why everything the main character has just said was stupid. It wasn't really necessary, as I was cringing about every word anyhow. I loved Irving's last effort, A Widow for One Year. Let's hope he'll bounce back.
Rating: 
Summary: After Further Review...
Review: The ruling on the field stands. Usually when I do these second-chance reviews, I realize I was too hard on the book the first time or just didn't get it and then reverse my earlier opinion. In this case, a second reading (after reading all but 1 of Irving's other novels) provided no evidence upon which to reverse my previous review. Though I do have better reasons why I don't like the book. After 30 years of publishing novels, there is an expectation built up in the reader's mind. I'm all for leniancy if the book is early in the author's career, but at this point Irving has done too much for a sloppy book like "The Fourth Hand" to warrant anything but one star. My personal theory about this book is that it was rushed from start to finish in order to satisfy the demands of the publisher, who had not been able to put out an Irving novel in about 5 years. Another explanation would only increase my disappointment in the book and its author. There are a lot of things that, after reading all but 1 of Irving's novels as I said earlier, are just atypical of the author. The overly-conversational tone of the narration is one difference I noted right away. There was also a lot telling instead of showing involved in getting Wallingford and Dr. Zajac together for the hand transplant. Dr. Zajac himself was a cause of consternation for me as well. The way he breaks out of his old life by finding love and marriage serves to foreshadow and contrast with Wallingford and Mrs. Claussen's relationship, and yet when Dr. Zajac's participation in the book ends, the novel is only half-finished and other than performing the unsuccessful transplant surgery, he didn't contribute much to the overall story. After learning all about his career, his odd habits, and building his new life with Irma (his maid), his son, and his dog, Dr. Zajac's character just didn't seem to go anywhere. The character of Wallingford troubled me for a long time and I finally managed to put my finger on what was bothering me. In everything else, Wallingford acquiesces to the demands of others (you can even make the case his acceptance of the transplant surgery is giving in to Dr. Zajac & Mrs. Claussen) and yet he's always complaining about the news stories he covers and about the media in general. He doesn't care about anything else (especially who he sleeps with) so why does he care so much about his job? It doesn't help that almost none of Wallinford's background before getting his hand chomped off is given to address why he's so passionate about the news and so passionless about everything else. Someone with so little backbone and smarts as Wallingford made a lousy choice to carry the banner of what I am sure are the author's beliefs regarding the subject of the media. The question of Why things happen can be asked continually throughout this book, and in no case are any real answers given. Why is Mrs. Claussen so intent on giving the hand to Wallinford? Why does Wallingford even want the hand? Why does he want her so badly? Why was this book allowed out the door of the publisher? Another nagging concern is the overabundance of colloquial references--the death of JFK Jr., Flight 800, the seasons of the Green Bay Packers from 97-99, The English Patient, Stuart Little, and so forth. Some, like the description of Lambeau Field and Walter Payton as the NFL's leading rusher, are already outdated. Others that seemed so important at the time have now faded to distant memory in the wake of recent events. It was the same problem I had with "Owen Meaney" and the Iran-Contra scandal--it was old, OLD news by the time I was reading the book, and that's the problem in writing about current (at the time) events--after a while the public's interest fades away. Again, in the wake of more current events, things like the Iran-Contra hearings, JFK Jr.'s crash, and Flight 800 really don't seem to matter a whole lot anymore, do they? What "The Fourth Hand" makes me wonder is if Irving's writing isn't in decline. Everything since "The Cider House Rules" just hasn't been as well-written; maybe the author peaked with that book. Well, better luck next time.
Rating: 
Summary: one hand clapping!
Review: First, my review is of the unabridged audiocassette and ONLY the cassette version. I have a feeling I would have hated this had I tried to read it myself. In the middle of a hurried cross-country road trip, I had to choose between this and a bunch of self-help twaddle and this seemed the lesser evil, despite Mr. Irving's often self-consciously quirky output. As it turned out, I loved having this story read to me. I loved the voice of the narrator and particularly his interpretation of Doris Clausen's Middle American tones. There are many (MANY) points in the story where I would have been compelled to put a book down forcefully, never to be picked up again, had I actually been reading it. However, instead of yanking the cassette out of the player and hurling it out onto the highway, I laughed. I ENJOYED myself. This book is chock full of situations just as smugly and predictably unpredictable as the worst of Mr. Irving's MANY authorial excesses, but it just doesn't hurt a bit when you don't have to read it yourself. Through the voice of Mr. Culp, what I am sure is a mediocre, self-conscious, meandering mess on paper is magically transformed into light, charming entertainment with a touch of real pathos. Once the road trip was over, I saw the paperback of _Widow For One Year_ and thought I'd give actually reading Mr. Irving another try. I got about 4 pages into it before abandoning it. I liked _Owen Meany_ and _Garp_ and _Cider House_ - you know, his GOOD books. _Fourth Hand_ is probably not one of the good books, but it makes a delightful traveling companion nonetheless.
Rating: 
Summary: better than some, not as good as others
Review: this book was good but it didn't knock my socks off. mr irving is one of my favorite writers but this novel seemed like it was rushed to the printers. the typical irving humor was at work in this one but without the depth of his previous novels. although i have only read about half of his books, i would rank "the cider house rules", "a prayer for owen meany" and "a widow for one year" ahead of this book.
Rating:
Summary: Fun, but not Irving's best
Review: At a mere 300-some pages, this feels like a short story from Irving. It didn't have the broad sweep of the history of the world that is so characteristic of Irving's works from "Garp" and on. And the ending was a suprise for him, violating one of his own rules for authors as discussed in his autobiography, "Piggy Sneed." Still, fun, fun, fun.
Rating:
Summary: What a load of rubbish .....................
Review: This is quite clearly the worse book I have ever read. Was this some sort of joke or was Irving also high on the drug that was administered to the main character when he lost his hand. I still don't get it - the whole book was a load of utter rubbish with every second page being taken up with 'hard-ons' and 'erections' For goodness sake,Irving grow up - who the heck wants to read trash like this. This book is NOT recommended by me - in fact don't even accept it as a gift, you'll be VERY sorry if you do!
Rating:
Summary: Dear John
Review: Dear John, - Strange, but excellent writing (as usual)...You've given me so much to think about: the role of the press (TV_CNN) in our society; the meaning of marriage, sex, love; the symbolic significance of rings, photographs, food, football games (sports in general), and HANDS; people's power games, manipulations; transitoriness of life.... Somehow, at the end of "The Fourth Hand", I was reminded of Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach". I loved your metaphorical references to "Charlotte's Web" and "Stuart Little"....and I'm still puzzling over the meaning of your references to Ondaatje's "English Patient". You leave us a lot to think about, which is what I love about a "literary novel". We all have so much in common with Patrick - in search of a meaningful life. Thanks again, John !
Rating:
Summary: THIS BOOK IS REALLY REALLY BAD
Review: I can't believe how bad this book was! It was so painful for me to read it. I've read every single John Irving book, and this book was so bad that I will no longer read another Irving book, I'm that turned off by how awful the book was. Mr. Irving, what were you thinking when you wrote this??!! I've read some of the rave reviews that other readers have posted, and I'm convined it's Irving posing as readers to hype his book. There is NO WAY any intelligent human being could find this book even remotely interesting. I wish I could give it ZERO stars.
Rating:
Summary: Not as intriguing as the others
Review: The Fourth Hand is certainly a work by John Irving. It has a main character who has peculiarities and who lives in an atmosphere of oddities. Patrick Wallingford works for an all-news network, which devotes its time to stories that have a peculiar twist. This kind of reporting is dehmunanizing and it dehumanizes Patrick. Then he becomes a subject himselfwhile covering a story in India, he loses his hand to a lion. This is typically Irving. His characters all experience these types of events. The loss of his hand leads to all sorts of attention, including the amorous advances of a Green Bay Packer widow, who wants to donate her husband's hand to him. Wallingford has had an unsuccessful marriage and numerous relationships with women, mostly initiated by them. He is used to this kind of attention, so he does not grow up emotionally. But for the widow, he seems to experience some personal and professional growth. Unfortunately, the plot simply is not that interesting. It is hard to connect with this character. He is neither admirable nor a complete jerk. I suppose that is Irving's way of portraying Everyman. At any rate the plot crawls along in a ho-hum pace and ends enigmatically, but hopefully. This is not a work like Garp or Cider House Rules and disappoints.
Rating:
Summary: I am looking for the meaning
Review: I am sure that there is some wonderful message that I should have gotten from this book, but I still don't get it.
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