The Fourth Hand, John Irving
The Fourth Hand, John Irving
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

The Fourth Hand

Author: John Irving

Narrator: Jason Culp

Unabridged: 11 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/03/2001


Synopsis

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK

While reporting a story from India, New York journalist Patrick Wallingford inadvertently becomes his own headline when his left hand is eaten by a lion. In Boston, a renowned surgeon eagerly awaits the opportunity to perform the nation’s first hand transplant. But what if the donor’s widow demands visitation rights with the hand? In answering this unexpected question, John Irving has written a novel that is by turns brilliantly comic and emotionally moving, offering a penetrating look at the power of second chances and the will to change.

Praise for The Fourth Hand

“A rich and deeply moving tale . . . Vintage Irving: a story of two very disparate people, and the strange and unexpected ways we grow . . . Irving’s novels are perceptive and precise reflections of the world around us.”—The Washington Post Book World

“A blend of sexual farce, journalistic satire, and tender love story . . . From what at first seems bizarre, Irving builds the best kind of love story: an improbable one. Wallingford gets more than a transplanted hand; he begins to find his soul.”—USA Today

“A riveting entertainment and certainly one of the funniest novels of the year. The authoritative control of Irving’s storytelling has never been more impressive. . . . The delighted reader is powerless to look away.”—Chicago Sun-Times

“[A] thoroughly satisfying literary experience . . . Irving’s most compassionate and redemptive [novel] to date . . . [His] mastery of characterization is unequaled in American novelists of the day.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“A beautiful story about the redemptive power of love.”—The Denver Post

About The Author

John Irving published his first novel at the age of twenty-six. He has received awards from the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation; he has won an O. Henry Award, a National Book Award, and an Academy Award. Mr. Irving is married to his literary agent, Janet Turnbull; he has three sons and one grandson. Currently, at the age of fifty-eight, he is at work on a novel and two screenplays.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Baba on July 01, 2022

24 News channel reporter Patrick Wallingford has his hand bitten of on live news TV… by a Lion! Yes, you read that correctly. You still with me? A pioneering surgeon looks to a hand amputation from a newly dead person to Patrick, there's one issue… the newly dead man's wife what's visitation rights......more

Goodreads review by Stephanie "Jedigal" on December 04, 2007

John Irving's characters are often quirky to say the least. Normally they draw one in. Irving's typical forays into the minds of the odd but believable individuals who populate his stories are usually irresistably intriguing. I have often had a difficult time putting an Irving novel down. This novel......more

Goodreads review by Schmacko on January 13, 2013

On John Irving, I have six thoughts: 1. He always seems to have a discombobulated male as his central character, Garp, the narrator in A Prayer for Owen Meany, the dad in The Hotel New Hampshire, and the young orphan in The Cider House Rules. They can be clueless, happy-go-lucky, confused, aimless, g......more

Goodreads review by Allison on March 18, 2011

It pains me, LITERALLY PAINS ME, to give a John Irving novel anything less than 4 stars. He is among my favorite living authors, and I typically wholeheartedly enjoy the stories he tells and the vivid characters he creates. But this one... well, it just fell flat for me. I could not relate to or car......more

Goodreads review by Deacon Tom on June 16, 2021

Fast Paced Fun I must tell you right up front that I am an unabashed John Irving fan. So, “the fourth hand is a book that I found fantastic fun exciting and witty. Irving combines both a comedy and a romance story in one book – – gifted and amazing. Now for many Irving sense of comedy is completely of......more


Quotes

“A RICH AND DEEPLY MOVING TALE . . . Vintage Irving: a story of two very disparate people, and the strange and unexpected ways we grow . . . Irving’s novels are perceptive and precise reflections of the world around us.”
–The Washington Post Book World

“A BLEND OF SEXUAL FARCE, JOURNALISTIC SATIRE, AND TENDER LOVE STORY . . . From what at first seems bizarre, Irving builds the best kind of love story: an improbable one. Wallingford gets more than a transplanted hand; he begins to find his soul.”
–USA Today

“A RIVETING ENTERTAINMENT AND CERTAINLY ONE OF THE FUNNIEST NOVELS OF THE YEAR. The authoritative control of Irving’s storytelling has never been more impressive. . . . The delighted reader is powerless to look away.”
–Chicago Sun-Times

“[A] THOROUGHLY SATISFYING LITERARY EXPERIENCE . . . Irving’s most compassionate and redemptive [novel] to date . . . [His] mastery of characterization is unequaled in American novelists of the day.”
–St. Louis Post Dispatch

“A BEAUTIFUL STORY ABOUT THE REDEMPTIVE POWER OF LOVE.”
–The Denver Post