I will admit to being a huge fan of Irving's, and though this is not one of his best known works at all, it is sneaky good and its themes seem to keep popping up when you least expect it.

The Plot: In India, an American journalist accidentally has his left hand is eaten by a lion. Sounds contrived, but it works. And back in the States, a famous surgeon is chomping at the bit for the chance to perform the nation's first hand transplant. And he does, with great success.

Here comes the real plot twist: The donor's widow wants visitation rights. With the hand. That's when this really takes off. The book is both laugh out loud funny and quite moving as it deals with the what happens to people through second chances in life, and the willingness to change that life.

I think this is the first Irving novel I've read which doesn't feature a bear somewhere in the story. Just a brief mention of one in a photograph, and that's it. There was a lion, which played a central, if brief role, but no bear. I have to say, I kind of missed a bear.

Other than that, this is another wonderful Irving story. Peopled by quirky characters and with a fair dose of improbable coincidences, Irving again weaves a tale which captivates, enraptures, and satisfies. What always fascinates me by Irving's work is how he manages to write such sophisticated and complex prose yet have it remain so accessible to any reader. I'll leave the summary of events to the book jacket and just say that if you love John Irving's work, as I do, this book will fulfill your expectations. If you haven't read any of his books, drop whatever you're doing and go get one! Any of them will do, they're all fantastic.

Back to familiar territory with this one. Another John Irving tale populated with quirky characters and inexplicably weird situations which only he can pull off into a quasi-realistic whole that affects and entertains.

Patrick Wallingford is a good looking, mild mannered TV reporter for a 24 hours Disaster News channel. The kind of guy who doesn’t really try with the women, they just fall into bed with him with an alacrity which will drive the rest of us nuts. Predictably, his marriage is on the rocks, a situation emboldened by a hilarious call with his wife when he was in the middle of something in his hotel room with a German camerawoman. However, in the course of one of his field assignments, while reporting on a circus on location in India he ends up losing a hand to a hungry lion there. This turns him into a TV celebrity with people being treated to reruns of the incident time and again and ensuring that Wallingford will never be unnoticeable now.

Dr. Zajac is quite different from Patrick. Focused, determined and talented, he wants to perform the first successful hand transplant surgery, and wants the famous Patrick to be his subject. They need a donor though. This is where another critical character comes into the picture. Doris Clausen and her husband are deeply in love with each other and with the Green Bay Packers. Seeing Patrick’s plight, she is moved to suggest that should anything happen to him, her husband should pledge to donate his hand for the cause. Sadly for them, something does happen and Patrick has his donor. However, more than the hand, will it be Mrs. Clausen herself who turns his life around? As with other Irving novels, this tragicomically brilliant context is further endeared to us by the question of what would happen if the donor’s widow requires visitation rights with the new owner of her husband’s hand. Outrageous probably, but Irving crafts a touching and hilarious story out of it.

The funny thing though is that the whole book is not about the hand surgery, which in itself would have made a compelling enough story. Instead, Irving tackles the whole question of second chances both at love and life and Patrick’s redemption in more ways than one. A person who usually just acquiesces to things and people happening to him, he finds there maybe something more concrete that life can offer him if he is willing to be patient. Finally, is it the hand or his heart which will get fixed?

I do wish Irving had spent more time on Dr. Zajac and his housekeeper Irma though. Theirs was a deliciously worked out tale which sort of settles itself partway through the book, the result being that for the rest of the novel we hardly get a reference to them. And the sex. Irving has a way with weird sex, but it could be toned down at places. At times, the fascination some of his books have with describing weird sex takes away from the heart of the story, and it is the case here with Patrick Wallingford. Almost every woman he meets is interested in jumping into bed with him at the slightest provocation (or in having his seed for their baby), which to be fair does lead to some hilarious bedroom sequences. Probably a bit too much time was spent on him considering he does seem a shallow protagonist. It would have been hugely interesting to see some more of Mrs. Clausen and the aforementioned doctor.

But at the end of the day, as is usually the case with me and Mr. Irving, it works. The characters and feelings are memorable and won’t leave the imagination soon. His tackling of Patrick’s changing life and the tumult of emotions he (and Mrs. Clausen) goes through are tenderly done with dollops of life affirming humor.

In other words, totally worth your time.

This book has shocking reviews (and my opinions are always swayed by them), although many are from Irving fans or at least from those that have read Garp. As this is my maiden Irving flight, I had no comparison and so enjoyed it. The characters are wonderfully off kilter - almost realistic, but not quite. The plot was bizzare (although very slow) and the writing is plain but effective. Overall, a push to read other Irving novels, but not one I can see myself recommending.

Pasiėmiau į sodybą savaitgaliui, nes myliu Irvingo stilių ir tikėjaus smagiai suskaityt, bet suskaičiau tik dėl to, kad nieko daugiau neturėjau. :D Namuose būčiau metus.

Nykuma. Siužetas neįtraukiantis, neįdomus, skylėtas, padrikas; veikėjai neryškūs... Jokio jausmo, jokios intrigos. Atrodo, kad knyga parašyta iš reikalo.

2019 nach über 10 Jahren noch einmal gelesen:

Eher 3,5

Ich finde es tatsächlich vor allem interessant, weil ich jetzt Dinge bemerke die ich beim ersten Lesen (was so 2002 in etwa gewesen sein dürfte) nie bemerkt hätte. Vor allem den heftigen Sexismus den die gesamte Story ziemlich ausmacht. Es ist ehrlich gesagt ziemlich krass, wie hier die Frauenfiguren dargestellt werden. Und das von einem Autor, dem (ich auch übrigens) eigentlich nachgesagt wird, besonders tolle und realistische Frauenfiguren zu beschreiben. Diese sind hier im Grunde alle irgendwie fast schon Sex besessen und alle darauf aus einen der männlichen Hauptfiguren irgendwie abzugreifen, zwar aus unterschiedlichen Motiven heraus aber es ist trotzdem so. Und daraus werden dann verschiedene Liebesgeschichten gesponnen. Ehrlich gesagt wundert mich auch nicht mehr so groß, das Die vierte Hand eher untergegangen ist, im Vergleich zu anderen Romanen über die nach wie vor (und zu Recht meiner Meinung nach) gesprochen wird.

Die Handlung selbst - wenn man mal diese unsäglichen Sexstories außen vor lässt, finde ich nach wie vor cool und interessant. Vor allem die ganze Geschichte rund um die Hand, das ist sehr Irvingtypisch skuril aufgezogen. Kritik an diesem Reißerischen Fernsehjournalismus Inklusive. Witzig finde ich hier die Erwähnung des ZDF.^^

Ich habe den Roman schon zu Ende gelesen, es war aber trotzdem ein klein wenig hinter dem zurück, was ich von Irving seitdem gelesen habe. Das ist auch ok, aber andererseits habe ich mir meinen eher positiven Eindruck schon etwas versaut...Aber gut, ich weiß ja, das mir bei Irving eben nicht alle Bücher gefallen. Hier hat es mich sogar ein wenig ernüchtert zurückgelassen, eben weil dieser ganze Sexismus der sich durch den Roman zieht schon auffällig ist. Zum Teil ist es eine kluge Kritik an Alltagsexismus, vor allem wenn es um die Darstellung einer Tagung zur Zukunft der Frau in Japan geht. Oder auch einer, wenn auch eher sanften, Kritik daran, wie Frauen von Männern hin höheren Positionen benutzt werden.

Aber zum Teil ist es eben auch Zeichen dessen, was Ende der 90er und Anfang der 2000er noch als normal betrachtet wurde. Frauen als Sexobjekt und Nymphoman, sobald sie sich mal auch für Sex interessieren. Oder eben als eher manipulierend und Sex als Einsatz verwenden um zu bekommen was sie wollen...

Ich versuche es also auch ein bisschen im Kontext der Entstehungszeit zu lesen. Trotzdem, für mich insgesamt ein schwacher Irving.

Oh, John Irving... First of all let me say I am a total Irving fan girl. I keep coming back to his novels no matter what's going on in my life and I am always entertained and still keep coming back for more. This novel was okay, but by no means my favorite Irving. To be honest, it is probably my least favorite John Irving novel to date. It had all the usual charm and coincidence and farce, but my heart just wasn't in it. I really didn't care about the characters or the situations Irving put them in, and that became problematic in my reading this book. It felt like a short story that eventually just got to an irreparable length. I'm in for a penny and I'll keep reading Irving, but this was pretty low on my totem pole of admiration.

Patrick Wallingford is the anchorman for a 'Disaster Channel'; a good looking vacuum, he loses a hand to a lion during a live TV segment that is shown around the world and which makes him a star. He becomes the recipient of a hand transplant; only thing is, the donor's wife wants visiting rights.
Zajac, the hand doctor, is Irving at his best - farcical, bizarre, and deeply tragic all in one. There are sections comparable to Dickens in their inventive eccentricity. Doris, however, is Irving at his worst - the novel grinds to a halt during Patrick the Void's infatuation with her and never really picks up again. Pity, because it was such a great start - could have done with a plot transplant by the end.

Picked up as a book swap. Odd and rambling. Not for me.

This is my first John Irving, and I sincerely hope that he usually writes much better than this. The beginning was so promising. I expected some classy comedy there. Patrick’s hand losing episode is written nicely. Then characters are introduced into the story one by one, and end up overdoing all of them. Zajac, Irma, Doris, Mary, Angie… Even Medea the Dog’s character is overdone! Maybe in an effort to make a better comedy, but it hasn’t worked with me.
Middle part of the book was like aimless wandering. Nothing interesting, nothing happening. Towards the end, it takes the shape of a serious love story, but failed to make it emotionally moving or touching.
Lastly, I don’t know whether Irving was trying to say something through it but I found it really annoying referring to Doris Clausen as ‘Doris’ and ‘Mrs. Clausen’ alternatively in every other sentence!

Did this book really just end with a woman scissoring a man’s missing hand stump

I really love John Irving (Garp and Owen are two of my favorite novels), but like anybody he’s got lesser titles and stronger titles. I would say this is a mid-range title for him. Still good, but not gonna make it into my mental canon of John Irving books to remember. Still, a compelling story with some of Irving’s favorite themes (sexually empowered women, men who can’t decide whether to be meek or bold, the choice between domestic life and great acclaim, the magical strongholds of romantic love, and the mental power of coincidence). If you like his Víctor Hugo - like turn toward magical co-Incidence, you’ll enjoy it. If you find that too easy, you probably won’t. But then you probably don’t enjoy John Irving to begin with. A fine book!