{"product_id":"the-fourth-hand-john-irving","title":"The Fourth Hand John Irving","description":"\u003cspan class=\"Formatted\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe Fourth Hand asks an interesting \"How can anyone identify a dream of the future?\" The \"Destiny is not imaginable, except in dreams or to those in love.\"\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWhile 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.\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThis 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 Rules .\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe 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.\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"Ex Libris Used Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44145180082403,"sku":"EXL1442","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0562\/5675\/7951\/files\/452969.jpg?v=1700074655","url":"https:\/\/www.exlibrismichigan.com\/products\/the-fourth-hand-john-irving","provider":"Ex Libris Used Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}