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The Fourth Hand

by John Irving

ISBN: 0375506276
ISBN-13: 9780375506277
Format: Hardcover

Summary

Patrick Wallingford, a TV reporter, is good looking, successful, and a hit with women. On an assignment, his hand is bitten off by a lion, making him into an instant media celebrity. He meets a childless woman who offers him the hand of her dead husband if he will impregnate her. A New York Times Notable Book for 2001.

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Media Reviews

"Any plot summary of Irving's new novel, THE FOURTH HAND, is likely to reassure his detractors that he has revisited his previous themes and they should steer clear. That would be a shame, since for all its mutilation and moral ranting, it is first and foremost a very sweet love story....Certainly some readers will find Irving's rants about television and television news needlessly long (and long-winded), and there is little in them that hasn't been said before, (in some cases, by Irving himself)....Nevertheless, THE FOURTH HAND is a rich and deeply moving tale, and (in the best sense) vintage John Irving: a story of two very disparate people, and the strange and unexpected ways we may grow."    -- Chris Bohjalian

   -- Washington Post Book World

"Patrick's studliness and essential shallowness differentiate THE FOURTH HAND from Irving's recent books-and frankly, they make it worse....I tend to love Irving-for his dedication to complex, old-fashioned plotting; for his unironic, urgent characters; and for his passion for peculiar, telling details and rhythms of prose. So although there's not much plot in THE FOURTH HAND, and characters tend to appear briefly and then never return...I found kernels of familiar delight here, anyhow....Perhaps THE FOURTH HAND is just a quick shot at another bestseller before the glow of the Oscar wears off....But perhaps THE FOURTH HAND is best seen as a transitional novel, moving Irving away from the Dickensian storytelling he's been entrenched in....Could be he's heading toward a looser, more modern form. I truly hope he is. Because when Irving is good, he is very, very good, and when he is bad, he gives me glimpses of something better."    -- Emily Jenkins

   -- Salon

Bibliographic Details

Publisher: Random House Inc
Published date: 2001
Edition: 1th edition
Size: 6.5 x 9.5 inches
Weight: 1.45 pounds
Pages: 316

Publisher's Notes

When a New York journalist suffers a horrible accident--his left hand eaten by a lion while reporting on a story from India--witnessed by millions on television, viewers rally to help him, in this satiric farce that looks at the power of second chances and the will to change.

Other Editions

Hardcover - Random House Inc (2001) - from $1.00
Paperback - Ballantine Books (2003) - from $1.00

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