The Fourth Hand
Random House, 2001. New York: Random House. Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. 2001.
The Fourth Hand asks an interesting question: "How can anyone identify a dream of the future?" The answer: "Destiny is not imaginable, except in dreams or to those in love"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 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 A married woman in Wisconsin wants to give the one-handed reporter her husband's left hand-that is, after her husband dies But the husband is alive, relatively young, and healthyThis is how John Irving's tenth novel begins; it seems, at first, to be a comedy, perhaps a satire, almost certainly a sexual farce Yet, in the end, The Fourth Hand is as realistic and emotionally moving as any of Mr Irving's previous novels-including The World According to Garp, A Prayer for Owen Meany, and A Widow for One Year-or his Oscar-winning screenplay of The Cider House RulesThe 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 But this novel also breaks new ground; it offers a penetrating look at the power of second chances and the will to change
. New York: Random House. Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. 2001. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. 0375506276 . An unblemish / Near Fine. Item #biblio116ISBN: 0375506276
Price: $30.00