Four Hands: A Novel [Paperback]

Paco Ignacio Taibo (Author), Laura Dail (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 1995

Greg Simon and Julio Fernandez are investigative jounalists who are chasing down an elaborate conspiracy plot. The story they discover and type out together weaves truth with lies, wild humor with tragedy, and reality with fantasy--a stranger-than-fiction tale of imperial excess where delusion makes perfect sense.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Two journalists-one Mexican, the other American-each tell the story of a plot to vilify the Nicaraguan Sandinistas in this complex tale that weaves together real and fictional characters including Pancho Villa, Stan Laurel and Harry Houdini.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

At times reminiscent of Doctorow's work, Four Hands is a glorious documentary-style novel, offbeat and usually comic. Taibo (Some Clouds, LJ 6/1/92) focuses on two 1980s journalists. Both partners and friends, Mexican Julio Fernandez and North American Greg Simon write about politics and revolution for the likes of Mother Jones and Rolling Stone. Interwoven with their stories are strands of fiction and fictionalized nonfiction that span the decades of the 20th century, roaming from the Americas to Europe and back. Other characters include Stan Laurel, Leon Trotsky, and civil engineer and anti-Sandinista Ben Linder. Taibo, who lives in Mexico City, is already well known to Spanish-language readers. This novel belongs in all strong contemporary literature collections.
Mary Margaret Benson, Linfield Coll. Lib., McMinnville, Ore.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Picador; 1st Picador USA Ed edition (May 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312130791
• ISBN-13: 978-0312130794
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,242,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whoa! What a ride..., May 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Four Hands: A Novel (Paperback)

Yummy. This book is a real treat for any person who can string together alot of facts, loves details from the four corners of the earth that all play into a plot, and intellectualism in their mystery. I have to admit there were some chapters about a play in some prision that I did not get at all. But what I did get was a huge grin on my face for three days while I slogged through this fun fun book. So many subplots. The CIA (sort of, with a great oberkonig character), revolutionary-chasing reporters (they love Che and pal around in El Salvador when they're not drunk), stressed out drug dealers, Leon Trotsky, and some old International Marxist Organization surviving through a bunch of octagenarians. Oh-- I forgot my favorite-- a PhD student in search of a thesis topic. All these characters come together in an odd tale. And the best thing--- the book has NO POINT. At least none that I could pick up. Don't read this if you need to have your Ts crossed by the time you're done. Personally, it was sheer joy to read this. The author and translator are clever and witty to an art form and I hope someday I have friends who can amuse me so.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth the Effort, March 27, 2002

By 

Stephanie Osborn (VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Four Hands: A Novel (Paperback)

Have you read a lot of mystery novels? Can you guess "whodunnit" before the final chapter? If so, try your wits against this book. Written from several different perspectives, bridging not only gaps in point of view but time and geography as well, this novel will make you want to bang your head into the wall. Taibo's work, however, is well worth the all the confusion, because once you have a vague idea of what is going on, the work's machinations are fascinating. While Four Hands can be read as an exercise in disinformation, in the creation of history, it can also be read as the construction of a mystery. In other words, reading this novel is like seeing the cogs turning in Agatha Christie's head. Taibo supplies all of the necessary ingredients for a good mystery novel: the killer, the victim, the mastermind, and of course, the detectives (Greg and Julian, two journalists). The construction of the mystery then proves more important than the mystery itself; the reader waits and waits for all of these ingredients to come together. The character of Alex, the crazy agent in charge of the intelligence agency "SD" ("It is not especially clear who maintains the SD either. One time someone suggested their paychecks came directly from the National Security Council"(11)) is Taibo's mad artist figure, pulling all of the mystery's factors together. Alex, however, tries to plan the outcome of this mystery, and so there is potentially no mystery at all, but just the manipulations of an intelligence agency. Can all mystery novels be seen as the result of such careful and meticulous calculation? Is there any such thing as the unknown anymore? Luckily, there are enough twists and turns in this complicated narrative to keep every reader happy. In fact, if you can keep up with what exactly is going on, then you deserve a gold medal. My advice is to just enjoy this "mystery-in-reverse" and to appreciate the kind of thought and energy that goes into creating traditional mystery novels.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Try To Keep Up!, July 7, 2005

By 

Tidewater Design (Cheasapeake Bay) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Four Hands (Hardcover)

Four Hands is a wonderfully inventive novel: a political thriller of spies, hit men, terrorists, drug dealers, and assorted malefactors, all involved in the shadowy fringes of the history of two nations. Its tellers are Greg Simon and Julio Fernandez, investigative journalists who are chasing down an elaborate conspiracy plot. The story they discover and type out together weaves truth with lies, wild humor with tragedy, and reality with fantasy-a stranger-than-fiction tale of imperial excess where delusion makes perfect sense.