So as I'm sure I've mentioned before, one of the few adult fiction writers I truly love to read is John Irving. Mostly, it's because he's absolutely hilarious. A Prayer for Owen Meany had me struggling to contain my laughter during IB/AP testing in high school. But then there's also his whole thing with sexual outsiders (for instance, in The Hotel New Hampshire, the narrator spends his life repressing his feelings of love and sexual attraction for his sister). And considering I wrote my senior thesis on sexuality in vampire fiction, it shouldn't be surprising that I find his discussion of these topics interesting.
Anyways, last Tuesday Irving released his thirteenth novel, In One Person, whose bisexual narrator navigates through life as a "sexual suspect," and touches on the 1980's AIDS crisis. In honor of this release, I thought to read one of his earlier novels. At first, I was going to read Until I Find You, since it appears to have similar themes, but since that novel is around 800 pages with fine print, I opted for the shorter (but less fitting) The Fourth Hand instead.
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| Image taken from here |
The Fourth Hand is about a reporter, Patrick Wallingford, whose hand gets eaten by a lion while filming a story, and how his loss of a hand (or two) contributes to his growth from a Barney Stinson-esque playboy into a man. In losing his hand, Patrick gains maturity and purpose; in losing his hand, he finds love and a family.
That being said, this is not my favorite work by Irving. In part, it just wasn't laugh-out-loud funny. And it's not because it's centered around tragedy. Irving can make anything funny, in my opinion. He just chose not to, and the novel suffers for it. Granted, I don't often read books because I seek to be entertained in that manner. Most authors could get by never making me crack a smile. John Irving, however, is an author I've continued reading precisely because of his ability to make me laugh uproariously. And I did not do that once in my journey with The Fourth Hand.
However, it's not all bad. There is a definite journey in this book, and Patrick's status as an "other" of society is explored to a certain extent. Had it not been for his life changing accident, Patrick would have never met the woman who gave him a child and a purpose. He is only able to grow as a person because he has been forced out of the frame of "normal" into the titular status as "the lion guy"--a celebrity freak. And prior to the life-altering moment, Patrick is a sort of "sexual suspect," since he's notorious for sleeping with any and every woman he encounters--he is by no means a good Christian monogamist (fair warning: lots of sex scenes, the quantity of which was also unexpected). However, his journey is about abandoning this status and conforming to conventional sexual norms. This is very different from Irving's usual M.O. Those outsiders grow and become larger than life when they embrace the fact that they are not "normal." Having Patrick Wallingford become a "better person" because he conforms is, consequently, out of character and a bit disappointing.
Now, don't get me wrong, I by no mean support such womanizing behavior. I like committed Patrick much better than playboy Patrick. But it must be said that Irving went out of character for this novel, and it's impact on my experience is negative. Maybe he was experiencing a mid-life crisis? Because this certainly reads like a man whose reached that point where he looks back on half his life and wonders, "What was I thinking? Where am I going?" Perhaps that's why I didn't appreciate it as much--I am not a man, and I am decades away from that mid-life moment.
I really hope I haven't scared you off the book! It really is a good book...but that's all it is. It's not phenomenal or ground-breaking like his other works. So don't judge the author by this book! Go grab The Hotel New Hampshire or, better yet, In One Person (reviews sound excellent for that one), and reserve your judgement until then.
I can't wait to get your YA choice! Speaking of which, I better start scouting out my YA book... :)
Keep Calm and Read On,
Becca
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