Monday, April 13, 2009

The Fourth Hand


John Irving. A strange fellow, no doubt. I find I either absolutely love his books, or I'm rather indifferent.
A Widow for one Year. This was a fabulous example of his brilliance but I hated the movie version.(The Door in the Floor.)
A Prayer for Owen Meany. I thought I was going to love it but was just... indifferent. Haven't seen the big screen version yet.
Son of the Circus. Don't even get me started on this one! It took me over a year to slog through this bad boy! To be fair, I had it at work and was reading it during lunch, but man was it hard to get through. And long! I did start to like it towards the end, but it didn't make up for the hours sent toiling in the beginning.
The 158 lb Marriage was certainly interesting! It was one of his earliest books, and is about wife swapping... very interesting indeed!
The Fourth Hand. It was an easy read and kept my interest, but there was just something missing for me. The characters were not very sympathetic, and I found I wasn't very invested in them. The basic story is that this CNN type of news guys has his hand eaten by a lion while doing a story in India. He gets a hand transplant and the widow of the donor wants visitation rights with the hand. An interesting concept yes, but for some reason left me feeling a little empty. Still worth reading though, and I will continue my quest to read all of John Irving's work.

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