Customer Reviews

Fourth Hand

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(74)
3 star:		(67)
2 star:		(48)
1 star:		(65)

 

 

John Irving is a brilliant writer, but "The Fourth Hand" is less than a brilliant book. It's immensely readable, that's for sure--it's hard not to fly through this book, even if you're an incredibly slow reader, like I am. But by the time you've sprinted to the end of its 313 pages--making it Irving's second shortest novel after "The Water-Method Man"--you're left with the twitching-phantom-limb feeling that "The Fourth Hand" is missing something important.

But what is it missing? Most of the characters are sufficiently unique and interestingly colorful to satisfy any long-time John Irving reader. I loved the subplot with the hand surgeon, Zajac, his son, and his housekeeper. The writing, as usual, is top-notch. (I must say, however, I was a little disappointed with the first sentence. Usually Irving knocks you right off your feet with his first sentences. This one barely made me shuffle my feet.)

What "The Fourth Hand" lacks that Irving's best novels nearly drown you in is a sense of emotional immensity. It doesn't help matters that this is such a short book. I think Irving is at his best in the form of the sprawling novel, where his themes and characters have ample time and space to weave themselves together on the loom of your imagination.

"The Fourth Hand" suffers from excessive lightness. It might be thought of as the 158-Pound Novel. There's a heaviness--a pleasant heaviness--to books like "The World According to Garp," "A Prayer for Owen Meany," and "A Widow For One Year" that simply isn't here.

And the plot just isn't as satisfying as that of "The Hotel New Hampshire" or "The Cider House Rules". After a solid beginning--the first sentence notwithstanding--this novel just meanders. You are still compelled to know what happens next (Irving's main strengths as a storyteller never really flag) but you find yourself just not caring which way things turn out.

Part of the problem I believe is the downright bizarreness of the central love story. The main character, Patrick Wallingford, is a sort of empty soul, who begins, with the progression of events in the story, to fill himself up. The stuff he fills himself with, though, seems so arbitrary and weird.

That he falls in love with the not-necessarily-likable Mrs. Clausen, the widow of the donor of his new left hand, is a plot point that is just given to us, rather than built up to. Mrs. Clausen isn't exactly unlikable, but she's just too emotionally obscure to create much sympathy in the reader. The gum-smacking Brooklyn makeup-girl that Wallingford tarries with briefly is much more likable than Mrs. Clausen herself. But maybe that's just the way the hand of fate is dealt, and we don't have much of a choice who we fall in love with.

Either way, at the end of this novel, I felt I hadn't gotten the full Irving treatment that I had come to expect. There are moments of greatness along the way, and any longtime Irving fan should certainly read this novel, but it's just not one of his best.

John Irving's novels are always worth reading, and *The Fourth Hand* is no exception. Certainly, it's a fun summertime read that moves right along and is seldom (though I can't say never)boring. As always, Irving creates some memorable and bizarre body-related imagery and a few weirdly endearing characters, such as the gum-chewing makeup girl, Angie. The famous Irving dry wit manifests itself frequently, and there is enough worthwhile social commentary related to the predatory nature of the media and the overall foibles of human nature to render this book "ok."

But compared with *The Cider House Rules* *A Son of the Circus* (an underrated jewel of a novel), *A Widow For One Year*, and even *The World According to Garp*, this book seems a pallid effort, indeed. The overall premise/metaphor related to the loss of the protagonist's left hand seems labored and at times even silly; the characters on the whole seem wooden, unlikeable, and even worse, unmemorable; and the slightly sappy ending is all too predictable and Hollywood-esque. I would add that Irving's main character, the handsome newscaster Patrick Wallingford, seems oddly bland for a guy who supposedly is irresistable to all women. In fact, Patrick's seemingly effortless success at bedding any and all females seems to represent a male fantasy of sexual omniscience, the flip side of which is Irving's unflattering portrayal of just about all of his female characters as conniving and manipulative. It's hard for me to reconcile Irving's strangely flat and unappealing lead characters with the supposed ultimate message regarding how love abides and conquers all.

This is certainly not a terrible novel. In fact, I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to anyone looking for an engrossing few hundred pages to while away a few lazy summertime hours. I suppose that like so many other people, however, I have come to expect a lof a significant writer like John Irving, and this work proved disappointingly lightweight.

Many years ago I was fortunate enough to attend a book reading by Mr. Irving. During the Q & A section, Mr. Irving commented that he was hoping to begin writing smaller books with fewer characters with more contained circumstances. With The Fourth Hand, Mr. Irving has finally published such a book.

The style of the book may be troubling to the fans of John Irving. The pace, language, and characterizations lacks that unique Irvingesque feel to it. This is not to undermine the excellence of the work, but if you are looking for the further hilarious adventures of another Owen Meany or Homer Wells, you won't find it within these pages.

What you do find is a tightly-written and very intimate work, which is really the hallmark of John Irving's writings. The lead protagonist, Patrick Wallingford, is vintage Irving: flawed, a victim of circumstances, yet sensitive to his own inner workings. And, as with all of Irvings characters, looking for some higher meaning in life and finding it in the most unlikely of places.

The Fourth Hand is a wonderful, touching, and emotional book; very reminiscent of one of Mr. Irvings earliest novels, The Water-Method Man. Ignore the "disappointed fans" who bemoan that the book is not another Owen Meany or Cider House Rules. Instead, settle down for a comfortable read and enjoy a world that only John Irving knows how best to create.

Let me establish up front that I am an Irving fan. I love OWEN MEANY and WIDOW FOR A YEAR and treasure CIDAR HOUSE RULES. They are rich, spellbinding novels with wonderful vibrant characters. But his latest disappoints. THE FOURTH HAND is a good read. In fact, I finished it in one gulp, but, ultimately, there is not much there. In the end, it all feels rather hollow, much like his Patrick Wallingford. Also, I found too many of the characters unlikeable, and not in a quirky way. (Interestingly enough, just as I was thinking that Irving's main charcter was too vapid and one with whom I did not want to spend too much time, Irving has the character articulate his own flaw and decide to change, so obviously that was the author's intent. Does that also account for several other charcters who are similarly and deliberately transparent? It might be, but that doesn't make them interesting people.) Some story lines were not satisfactorily completed, specifically that of the hand !surgeon. (The tag at the end to wrap up his story seemed almost like an after thought.) And while the novel is funny in spots, I wished for more of Irving's outrageous humor. I was not bored. THE FOURTH HAND is a solid summer read...but from Irving, I have come to expect much, much more than a summer read. (Yet, it might make an awfully good Tom Cruise movie down the road.)

From the man who gave us "Garp", "Owen Meany, "Hotel New Hampshire", "A Widow For One Year" and "The Cider House Rules", I expected more. In the last four years I have become a rabid John Irving fan, and have devoured 8 of his ten novels and loved most of them. However, "The Fourth Hand" left me fairly cold and flat.

Irivng seems to be at his best when writing from what he knows: boarding schools, wrestling, bears, and when he writes in a true Dickensian Style. I'm sorry to say that "The Fourth Hand" has no boarding schools, no character aspires to be (or was) a wrestler, and the only wild animals are the lions in chapter one. Wallingford is shallow and uninteresting for the first two thirds of the book, and the female characters surrounding him are primarily cardboard displays. At one point, one of his conquests (Angie the makeup girl) sets up some very interesting possibilities, but in the end, turns out to be as uninteresting a character to us as she must be to Wallingford.

The plot is thin this time around, and although hardly predictable, has none of the classic structure, skill and style of "Owen Meany", and none of the heart of "Cider House." Perhaps it is unfair to categorize this novel with the others I've listed here. It is not a New England/Vienna novel, it does not aspire to the depths of literary greatness that "Owen Meany" does, and it has none of the political timeliness of "Garp". It is a simple story of a simple man. Unfortunately, Irving has shown us that he is capable of far more than this simplicity.

Maybe expectations lead to disappointments, but after the four BRILLIANT novels I mention above, "The Fourth Hand" pales. If you are already an Irving fan, by all means, read it. But if you have never read Irving before, start with "The World According to Garp", start with "The Hotel New Hampshire", but leave this second-class novel until you've read all the rest.

Irving's newest selection is a welcome return to familiar territory for his devoted readers. The novel The Fourth Hand reveals sympathetic and intriguing characters through bizarre incidents treated as the mundane. As is expected by his readers, the characters are idiosyncratic and muted, but infinitely likable and pitiable during their travails through Irving's surreal but grounded landscape, which is mostly urban and American in this novel. While he does not reign in his affinity for the uncanny and coincidental, Irving does seem to offer some restraint with his imagery and symbolism that have been critiqued in prior work as " heavy-handed". This novel is above all, a narrative. But the only major flaw is tethered to that same restraint. The writing sparingly uses dialogue and reads like a story told perhaps over a long drunken weekend, or one an eccentric uncle might be adept at spinning after far too many years of practice. The author even drops the veil a few times early in the novel with phrases such as " don't forget " and " don't think". This is troubling but not entirely damaging. Irving's expertise at subtle farce ( particularly sexual ) and especially crisp description is preserved as when he describes a female character as " pretty in a kind of bereft or disturbed way, as if there'd recently been a suicide or a murder of someone close to her..." The novel certainly demonstrates an author more in tune with reflection and redemption. The tone and overall passion of the work is more gentle, but still charged and compelling. This may simply reflect the Irving on the jacket that now appears scholarly and grandfatherly ( no doubt gazing at his Oscar ) rather than the iron jawed ex-wrestler on his early books. For fans, and I am one, it is a joy. For anyone, it is a crafted and original tale that explores archetypal yearnings and questions, albeit in Irving's own slightly twisted universe. I read it quickly and needed to know how it would end. And that is likely the finest endorsement.

I've been waiting for this novel for a long time (well, it feels a long time for a die-hard Irving fan!!), and once I got my hands on it I didn't put it down 'til I was finished reading the whole story.

I'm conflicted about this work; the story is most entertaining and there are a number of laugh-out-loud moments, thanks to Irving's brilliant turn-of-phrase gifting but this book doesn't have the strong characters of his previous works. I will forever gauge Irving's future writings by the phenomenal (and, in my opinion, most brilliant) work <i>A Prayer for Owen Meany</i>. Alongside <i>Meany</i> this novel cannot catch a dim shine.

Wallingford, the main character, is one-dimensional (but that's intentional, I'm sure) and darn-it-all we don't get to see/hear/experience enough of Dr. Sajac. Maybe Irving has plans for the good Dr. in a different novel. I hope so. The women characters are very strong - too strong. They're like sharks circling about, ready to devour. Not enough counter-balancing, quirky, emotional riffing coming from them. Then again, maybe Irving did that deliberately. This work is definitely full of satire!

On the other hand, I enjoyed the romp through the typically convoluted-complicated-Irvingesque relationships. The personal collisions at the characters' intersecting one another are great. I think of the make-up girl cleaning up Wallingford's apartment while lambasting her brother Vito on the phone, <i>after</i> Wallingford has told her he's going to ask another woman to marry him - and <i>this</i>after having a wild night in the sack where said make-up girl almost choked to death on her gum. As I noted, it's typical Irving twisted fun.

If you've not read John Irving's works before, don't start here. Start with <i>Prayer for Owen Meany, The Cider House Rules,</i> or <i>The World According to Garp.</i> Then go read this novel.

It's short, it's fun, and it won't change the world... perfect for a summer break's indulgence by the water at the cottage.

Mr. Irving... I'm looking forward to your next work. Don't make us wait too long... but don't short-shift us on your wacky, complicated characters, either! Thank you for another fun literary crack at pen'n'paper!

Drop dead gorgeous hunk Patrick Wallingford is covering the Great Ganesg Circus in Junagadh, India following up on the death of a male trapeze artist and the fight over using safety nets. When the lions begin roaring, Patrick takes his microphone and sticks it inside the cage only to have a hungry beast sever his left hand and wrist while on international TV.

Patrick knows that his chances of becoming an anchor ended with the maiming of his hand even if he received tons of sympathy. However, a new opportunity surfaces when eminent surgeon Dr. Nicholas Zajac decides on performing the first hand transplant, using Patrick as his patient. Packer fan Doris Clausen offers the hand of her healthy and living spouse because she wants the beautiful Patrick whole. However, she demands hand visits and he impregnate her in exchange for the extremity. Meanwhile instead of calm before he tries the impossible, Nicholas deals with his own personal nightmares that could impact the success of the first hand transplant operation.

THE FOURTH HAND is an entertaining condemnation of media excesses using loss, broken relationships and all under the news spotlight. The story line is humorous though at times is undecided between acrimonious hyperbolic satire and realistic condemnation. Still, in the world according to John Irving, this second chance redemption tale is an emotional story that tackles the reader in a blitz and never lets go until atonement comes for one and all including a wristlocked overzealous reviewer.

Harriet Klausner

In one of Irving's early, Pre-Garp novels, the character Severin Winter has a somewhat tedious habit of categorizing everything into wrestling weight classes. From this strange habit comes the title of this earlier book, "The 158-Pound Marriage."

From Garp on, Irving's novels have consistently resided in modern literature's upper weight classes. Until now. The Fourth Hand is John Irving's 141-pound novel. Many fans (and critics) have expressed disappointment that The Fourth Hand didn't weigh in as, say, a 197 pounder, or even a heavyweight. Because of this, The Fourth Hand clearly suffers from expectations not met.

First of all, I believe that Irving clearly chose to write a 141-pound novel. In an interview conducted--if my memory serves correctly--after the publication of A Son of the Circus, Irving spoke of the increasing difficulty, as he ages, of mentally keeping track of a large, complex storyline during the writing process. I also have to believe that the experience of paring down Cider House Rules into a much tighter, cleaner screenplay has probably had some lasting effect towards how Irving views his craft. How much easier it will be to convert this smaller, simpler story into a film than it was with some of his earlier works which were brought kicking and screaming to the big screen.

My point is that while The Fourth Hand may only be a 141-pound novel, it is one of the better 141-pound novels written in the past decade. Patrick Wallingford, initially a somewhat unsympathetic main character, drives the reader effortlessly through the plotline while becoming, in the end, a better man. The characters in the book, both major and minor, are written in a loving, humorous way. More importantly, Irving seems to have finally, in his last couple of novels, found a convincing voice for his female characters--something clearly missing from his earlier work.

I honestly believe that John Irving fans would have probably liked this book a bit more if only it had been written by someone else. I, on the other hand, believe the author has largely succeeded in his effort to reinvent his writing. Nevertheless, I'll bet it was tough for him not to include an epilogue; I know how much he likes to "wrap things up."

Bravo, John!

I consider John Irving my favorite author of fiction. I always look forward to each new novel. Having read all of his previous works, I have to say that this is definitely not up to his HIGH standards. The characters were not fully developed, nor did his writing entrance my imagination. I was not moved by, nor did I have any strong feelings for, any of the characters. To me the writing was like an outline for a movie (I understand that there is already a movie in the works). This might be one of those rare casees where the movie is better that the novel. If you are looking for a great novel, read "Empire Falls" or any of John Irving's previous books, but not "The Fourth Hand." Hopefully this new novel is one small bump in the road for Mr. Irving and he will return to his high standards with his next effort.