But then I realized it's character driven, rather than plot driven. I admit I fell into the trap of expecting a more profound outcome, thus almost gave it four stars instead of five. As a character, he may not have been as compelling without the gruesome mayhem aspect, but strangely, that aspect lends him credibility. I've actually known a man like the main character, so as improbable as he seems, he does exist out there. The narrator, Jason Culp, is what sold me on listening in the first place, because I had greatly enjoyed his excellent narration of 'Last Man Standing.' I found 'Fourth Hand' fascinating because, in a manner similar to 'Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,' it swirls in a vortex of sexuality without being dominated by it. This is the first Irving book I've 'read,' and I enjoyed it a lot. But this novel also breaks new ground it offers a penetrating look at the power of second chances and the will to change. The Fourth Hand is characteristic of John Irving's seamless storytelling and further explores some of the author's recurring themes - loss, grief, love as redemption. Yet, in the end, The Fourth Hand is as realistic and emotionally moving as any of Mr. This is how John Irving's tenth novel begins it seems, at first, to be a comedy, perhaps a satire, almost certainly a sexual farce. But the husband is alive, relatively young, and healthy. A married woman in Wisconsin wants to give the one-handed reporter her husband's left hand - that is, after her husband dies.

In Boston, a renowned hand surgeon awaits the opportunity to perform the nation's first hand transplant meanwhile, in the distracting aftermath of an acrimonious divorce, the surgeon is seduced by his housekeeper. While reporting a story from India, a New York television journalist has his left hand eaten by a lion millions of TV viewers witness the accident.

The fourth hand by john irving