fourth hand

I picked up John Irving's The Fourth Hand at a library book sale. Not because I was looking for it--or even knew about it--but rather, I've read a few of Irving's books and I expected a treat. Irving writes a carefully plotted, intricately woven novel, typically about normal American folks dealing with normal American stresses, typically through the clarifying lens of some abnormality. A typical Irving character is challenged in some way, or possibly challenged by living with other folks who may be challenged more than they are. Irving characters may be physically or intellectually challenged, located somewhere personally lonely on the gender or sexuality spectra, furries, addicts, insane, a farmer or a wrestler.

Maybe all of those things.

But Irving uses these perceived abnormalities to accentuate and elevate the human feeling in a way that clarifies the story of their struggles for us, and allows us to see inside those issues like our our. It bother mirrors and magnifies our own thoughts and feelings as human beings, and draws us into the story deeper than we might have otherwise. But only if we are willing. As an author, John Irving does his job, but we need to do ours as readers and bring our understanding and empathy to the mixture in order to get out of his writing what Irving puts in.

Patrick Wallingford is a TV journalist who loses his hand during a report from India, and the accident is caught on film. Wallingford then become known as the guy who lost his hand, as the clip is watched hundreds of thousands of times worldwide. A hand surgeon in Boston would like to be the first to successfully perform a hand transplant, and a Wisconsin truck driver and Green Bay Packer fan wants to be the donor, or maybe its his wife that wants him to be.

Where these three people, and those around them, come together, each wanting something from the others, is where this story comes together. A small slice of the bizarre, served à la sexe, gives this story the juice which powers it forward, and makes it such a delight to read.

Read this book, and everything else John Irving writes.