The Fourth Hand, by John Irving. Random House, 311 pages. Writing with his usual brilliance (The Cider House Rules, The World According to Garp, A Prayer for Owen Meany) and eight others, John Irving has created another masterpiece. He credits his wife, Janet, with the idea for the book. It seems that Irving was intrigued by a factual story about the first successful hand transplant in the United States. Irving's wife asked a most important question: what if the donor's widow wanted visitation rights with her dead husband's hand?
With that germ of an idea, Irving went to work on his novel. The main character is Patrick Wallingford, a drop-dead handsome newscaster with the all news channel. Everybody is in love with Patrick, especially women.
Patrick is an insecure as a mouse in a roomful of cats. He tries to make up for his insecurities by becoming an addicted womanizer. He's one of those fellows who wants it all.
The high-power, high paying job (thought not yet as a network news anchor) and movie star quality looks of the kind most men could only dream about are of course, not enough. He wants more. He wants to be a news anchor. He wants to be seen and known throughout the entire world.
Enter the maxim: You better watch what you pray for because you might get it.
Patrick gets his wish early in the book. It happens in the most unsuspecting way, as accidents do, and then he must figure out his next step. After what happens to his hand, overnight he's a star (which is a boon to his network because then everybody wants to tune in).
Enter Dr. Zajac, a character who is equally as fascinating as Patrick. Zajac is a health freak and obsessive-compulsive neat freak and a brilliant hand surgeon. But he is clueless when it comes to parenting. His missions in life are to figure out what to do with his child, and to perform the first successful hand transplant.
Enter Mrs. Clausen, a young beauty with the distinction of becoming a widow with a husband's hand to donate. She meets Patrick in a most unusual way and yes, she does have some requests.
Irving hits a perfect pitch with this novel. His wit and tongue-in-cheek sarcasm are sustained throughout the book. Then there are sobering scenes where Patrick stops being an adult with a teen mentality and becomes an adult who acknowledges his soul.
Irving skillfully combines the icons of our day--our obsession with news (particularly bizarre news) and stories behind the news, promiscuity, insecurity, pregnancy, children, transplantation, medicine, medical ethics, the entertainment industry, books, movies, and love. This is a must-read, not only as a very fine novel but also as a social commentary on contemporary life. And to think it all began because a couple was reading the newspaper and asking “what if?”
