The fourth hand : a novel
Record details
- ISBN: 0375506276 (alk. paper)
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Physical Description:
316 p. ; 25 cm.
print - Edition: 1st ed.
- Publisher: New York : Random House, c2001.
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Transplantation of organs, tissues, etc Fiction Donation of organs, tissues, etc Fiction Television journalists Fiction Transplant surgeons Fiction Hand Surgery Fiction |
Genre: | Love stories. Psychological fiction. |
Show Only Available Copies
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Homer Public Library | F IRVING (Text) | 000125383 | Fiction | Available | - |
The Fourth Hand
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Summary
The Fourth Hand
The Fourth Handasks 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 healthy. 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. Yet, in the end,The Fourth Handis as realistic and emotionally moving as any of Mr. Irving's previous novels-includingThe World According to Garp, A Prayer for Owen Meany, andA Widow for One Year-or his Oscar-winning screenplay ofThe Cider House Rules. The Fourth Handis 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.