John Irving

The Fourth Hand

Michael Springer

While at work on the massive tome that became Until I Find You, John Irving took a break to work on the comedic and relatively short novel, The Fourth Hand. Irving began it hoping it would be his first comedy since The Water-Method Man. 

The Fourth Hand is quite funny, especially in the earlier chapters, but it ends up growing out of its original intentions; by the end, you're not reading a comedy. It's not a sad book, but it is bittersweet in a way that will be familiar to John Irving fans. 

Patrick Wallingford is a television correspondent for a television network known as the "disaster channel." While filming a segment about a bizarre and tragic accident at a circus, Patrick's hand is devoured by a lion. Following the event, which is shown endlessly on television, he becomes known as "the lion guy," and becomes much more famous than he ever was before, ending up a news anchor. But Patrick is a shallow, womanizing little shit, and is good looking enough to get away with it. 

A man from Wisconsin agrees to donate his hand to Patrick in the case of his death. Then, through a bizarre accident, the man dies. Patrick inherits the man's hand, and falls in love with the man's wife (who doesn't love him). This unrequited love causes Patrick to begin reevaluating his own life. 

Personally, I've never known any guys who have this easy of a time getting poontang. It seems like every time Patrick turns around, some hottie is dropping her panties. I'm not sure whether a feminist reading of this book would find John Irving in contempt or not. But, it seems to me that we're SUPPOSED to see Patrick as a prick for most of the novel . . . so is all of this womanizing acceptable? Personally, I wasn't blown away by any of the female characters here, not even the woman he falls for, and my favorite was the gum-chewing ho who did Patrick's makeup. I mention all of this because I was mildly distracted throughout by the treatment of women, and how shallow it often felt. So, if that's something that often gets you up in arms, you probably won't enjoy this book as much as you would many of Irving's other works. 

This is definitely worth reading for any Irving fan. If you haven't read anything yet by him, I wouldn't start here: track down a copy of The World According to Garp or A Prayer For Owen Meany. This book is good because it's John Irving weaving a fun and bizarre tapestry like he always does. You know how Iron & Wine songs are always good because they always sound like Iron & Wine? Same principal here. The extra incentive here is the fact that this book is more continuously funny than usual, and this might be Irving's only novel where he doesn't try and tell the entire story of the main character's life. The whole story focuses on five or so years for the main characters. So, read it if you're moved to do so. Or don't. Yeah, I never know how to end these reviews. I could end it with a tacky joke about giving a HAND to John Irving, but that would be lame, wouldn't it?

'Imagine a young man on his way to a less-than-thirty-second event - the loss of his left hand, long before he reached middle age.' While reporting a story from India, a New York television journalist has his left hand eaten by a lion; millions of TV viewers witness the accident. In Boston, a renowned hand surgeon awaits the opportunity to perform the nation's first hand transplant. A married woman in Wisconsin wants to give the one-handed reporter her husband's left hand, that is, after her husband dies. But the husband is alive, relatively young, and healthy...

Rohan Uddin

Witty, fun at places, but awkwardly raunchy at terrible times. Not my cup of tea.
Irving is still a great stylist, and his central character is (maybe) believable.

The Fourth Hand

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