Review of the Day: The Fourth Hand

The Fourth Hand by John Irving was not a captivating read -- just barely entertaining enough to drag through to the end.

Everyone has their Irving favorites, usually starting with The World According to Garp; and there are mixed feelings about others, like A Prayer for Owen Meany. But The Fourth Hand is not enough of a novel to arouse much emotion one way or the other.

Without giving away the story, it is simply too hard to buy into the woman's obsession with the hand or the man's love for the woman. And, in a very un-Irving way, there were many loose ends -- several characters with prominent parts in the beginning of the book disappear without a trace. We are told that the protagonist changed, and that the "new" Patrick Wallingford is not like the "old" Wallingford, but why did he change? And why did his changing necessarily meant that characters would disappear?

It was like Irving packed the first half of the book with typical Irving situations and characters, then got bored with the whole thing, so spent the second half resolving it all in the fastest, most simplistic, straightforward way he could. Which is the only way to finish reading it as well.

OTHER REVIEWS

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Opening Sentence of the Day: Advise and Consent

"When Bob Munson awoke in his apartment at the Sheraton-Park Hotel at seven thirty-one in the morning, he had the feeling it would be a bad day." -- Advise and Consent by Allen Drury Drury won the 1960 Pulitzer prize for this best selling novel about the Senate's consideration of a controversial candidate for Secretary of State. It is my Pulitzer pick for the Battle of the Prizes Challenge. At over 600 pages, it would also count for the Chunkster Challenge, had I signed up in time.

Oh S**t!

Here's an idea for an English major thesis: "Scatological Motifs in First/Breakout Novels by Male Authors." I came up with this idea while reading The Floating Opera, John Barth's first novel. There is a whole subplot about a crazy old man who stored his own waste in pickle jars. Which reminded me of a similar storyline in John Franzen's novel The Corrections (not his first, but definitely his breakout novel). Booker Prize winners Life of Pi by Yann Martel and Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre also have excrement-related scenes, as does, I seem to recall, The River Why by David James Duncan. What gives? Why do writers -- and it seems to be male writers -- feel a need to write about this subject? Does the freedom to write anything they want prompt some need to be naughty, like a teenager left home alone with the liquor cabinet? Or is there some deeper, Freudian connection between first novels and toilet training? It is not that I didn't enjoy the books mentioned (well, I could have skipped Vernon God Little), but I would be happy to never read another passage discussing bodily waste. Please let me know of other books that should be included on my list, so I will know what to avoid. And you never know -- there could be a lit major out there looking for a thesis idea who would appreciate the extra titles. THE S**T LIST The Floating Opera y John Barth The Corrections by Jonathon Franzen Life of Pi by Yann Martel Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre The River Why by David James Duncan

List of the Day: The Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction

The BBC awarded its first Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction in 1999. The prize "is the richest non fiction prize in the UK, worth £20,000 to the winner. . . . [T]he prize aims to reward the best of non-fiction and is open to authors of all non-fiction books in the areas of current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts." A few non-fiction books are included in some of the Must Read lists here on Rose City Reader, but this is the first exclusively non-fiction list I have posted. I enjoy non-fiction more and more, but my default reading choices are novels. To remind myself to read more non-fiction, I have adopted this list -- it is a short one, the books are contemporary, and (so far) only one is pure military history. A couple, shown in blue, are on my TBR shelf right now, but I haven't read any of these books yet. 2008 The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale 2007 Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran 2006 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare by James Shapiro 2005 Like A Fiery Elephant: The Story of BS Johnson by Jonathan Coe 2004 Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder 2003 Pushkin: A Biography by TJ Binyon 2002 Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 by Margaret MacMillan (the American title is Paris 1919) 2001 The Third Reich: A New History by Michael Burleigh 2000 Berlioz Volume 2: Servitude and Greatness by David Cairns 1999 Stalingrad by Antony Beevor If anyone else is reading these prize winners, please leave a link in a comment and I will add it to this post.

Book Give-a-Way: Home Sweet Home

I have a few home-themed books up for grabs. No fancy rules, just first come, first served. If you would like one of these books, please leave a comment and I will make arrangements to get it to you.* All are in "Like New" condition. They have been sitting around on my shelf for a while, but not getting any attention. The Home Owner's Journal: What I Did and When I Did It This is an actual journal that you fill in and use to keep track of improvements and projects on your house. I got it for my new house, but ended up with several similar journals that I received as house warming gifts and I only need one. This is good, particularly if you are building a new house or doing a whole-house remodel, because it is organized room-by-room and includes sections to note everything -- floor coverings, light fixtures, window treatments, etc. The Complete Home Improvement & Decorating Organizer This is another interactive home journal, very similar in content to the first one, but larger in size, with more room to write. It may include more sections on interior decorating, but there is space in the other to include that information too. Attics: Your Guide to Planning and Remodeling Our plans changed -- no attic remodel for me. Lots of pretty pictures, good ideas, and practical advice. Ortho's Guide to Decks & Patios This is definitely a hand-on guide to building your own deck or patio. Great stuff, but I can barely handle a garden spade, let alone power tools. * U.S. only, please.