The Fourth Hand, By John Irving

The Skinny

Score: 90%

This book is a middling effort by Irving, but that still makes it a masterpiece when compared to most other authors out there. Quirky characters interact in interesting ways, with the characteristic Irving signatures: weird sex, props given to great literature, and bizarre circumstances surrounding naive people.

The Meat:

I borrowed this book from the library with the thought that, since Irving has written three of my all-time favorites (Cider House Rules, Owen Meany, and Hotel New Hampshire), I should probably read everything else he's written in case there are other gems in his life's work

The Fourth Hand is not such a gem, but nearly half the book was a delight to read.

Irving departs from the formula that has guided other of his works that I've read. In The Fourth Hand, the characters are not insulated from the real world; as a television field reporter with a degree of fame, protagonist Patrick Wallingford is as immersed in the real world as it is possible for a minor celebrity to be. He gains international notoriety when his hand is eaten by lions while covering a story at a circus in India. A significant time after the accident, Patrick receives a hand transplant. The widow of the donor, Doris Clausen, demands visitation rights with the hand, which is, after all, a still-living part of her husband. Patrick falls in love with Doris, perhaps because, on first meeting him hours before the transplant, she has sex with him in order to conceive the child that she and Otto never could.

The doctor who performs the transplant, Dr. Zajac, is an extremely interesting character who tries to develop a relationship with his son despite the best efforts of his ex-wife. Zajac's frumpy housekeeper is so moved by the doctor's feelings for his son that she falls in love with him, and transforms herself into a sexpot in order to gain his affection.

The second half of the novel tracks Patrick's efforts to develop a relationship with Doris after his body has rejected her late husband's hand. At the same time, Patrick's dalliances with women and the office politics of his television anchor job become entangled in these efforts and each other.

Most of Irving's novels follow their protagonist from beginning to end; they are sprawling, and let you know how everything turns out. In this book, we get a section out of the middle of Patrick's life, and I was left wondering about the ending, and not in a good way. I would have preferred to see what contributed to the curiosities of Patrick's character; he is an affable man without any sense of "deepness," but we don't know why. The book tracks his development into someone with values and integrity, but there is something missing.

Despite these complaints, The Fourth Hand is an interesting read, and some of the scenes are absolutely delightful. As always, Irving finds a way to incorporate text from other authors; in this case, EB White's tales Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web share time with The English Patient. And the intricacies of certain characters should serve as a model for novelists everywhere. Dr. Zajac, who is unhealthily thin, a bird watcher, a former lacrosse player, a brilliant hand surgeon, a miserable observer of human nature, a struggling father, and more, is the prime example of how to make a character interesting and engaging.

Irving has tinkered with the formula that has made his writing such a unique joy; the deviations are, on balance, more negative than positive, but I hope that the experience will help him to produce more masterpieces.

The Fat:

$11.66 for a new copy, or just a penny for a used copy:

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