• The Fourth Hand

  • A Novel
  • By: John Irving
  • Narrated by: Jason Culp
  • Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
  • 3.7 out of 5 stars (429 ratings)

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The Fourth Hand  By  cover art

The Fourth Hand

By: John Irving
Narrated by: Jason Culp
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Publisher's summary

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK

While reporting a story from India, New York journalist Patrick Wallingford inadvertently becomes his own headline when his left hand is eaten by a lion. In Boston, a renowned surgeon eagerly awaits the opportunity to perform the nation’s first hand transplant. But what if the donor’s widow demands visitation rights with the hand? In answering this unexpected question, John Irving has written a novel that is by turns brilliantly comic and emotionally moving, offering a penetrating look at the power of second chances and the will to change.

Praise for The Fourth Hand

“A rich and deeply moving tale . . . Vintage Irving: a story of two very disparate people, and the strange and unexpected ways we grow . . . Irving’s novels are perceptive and precise reflections of the world around us.”The Washington Post Book World

“A blend of sexual farce, journalistic satire, and tender love story . . . From what at first seems bizarre, Irving builds the best kind of love story: an improbable one. Wallingford gets more than a transplanted hand; he begins to find his soul.”USA Today

“A riveting entertainment and certainly one of the funniest novels of the year. The authoritative control of Irving’s storytelling has never been more impressive. . . . The delighted reader is powerless to look away.”Chicago Sun-Times

“[A] thoroughly satisfying literary experience . . . Irving’s most compassionate and redemptive [novel] to date . . . [His] mastery of characterization is unequaled in American novelists of the day.”St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“A beautiful story about the redemptive power of love.”The Denver Post

©2001 by Garp Enterprises (P)2001 Random House, Inc.

What listeners say about The Fourth Hand

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Yuck!

Garp would hate this book. Dog poop Lacrosse is the only "John Irving" element in the book. I did listen to the entire book; it is well read.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Boooooooring!

I couldnt stop listening because I kept expecting something to happen, but it never did. I found it extremely boring.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Horrible

If you liked A Prayer for Owen Meany don't waste your time on this. It is utterly horrible.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Tried hard to care but failed

With all of the great reviews I had high hopes for this book. Thought the main character would be an anti-hero similar to The Goldfinch but it wasn't. I didn't care about this guy at all. For a guy who loses his hand not much else happens. I think the narrator read it the way it was meant to be read which was too dry for my taste.

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