{"product_id":"fourth-hand_-the","title":"The Fourth Hand, John Irving","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eThe Fourth Hand\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e asks an interesting question: \"How can anyone identify a dream of the future?\" The answer: \"Destiny is not imaginable, except in dreams or to those in love.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\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\u003e\u003cbr\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,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eThe Fourth Hand\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is as realistic and emotionally moving as any of Mr. Irving's previous novels-including \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eThe World According to Garp, A Prayer for Owen Meany\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eA Widow for One Year\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e-or his Oscar-winning screenplay of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eThe Cider House Rules\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eThe Fourth Hand\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e 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\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"gentle books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48009009135753,"sku":"9780552149044","price":50.0,"currency_code":"HKD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0598\/9289\/1785\/files\/9780552149044.webp?v=1787469903","url":"https:\/\/thisisgentle.com\/products\/fourth-hand_-the","provider":"gentle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}