John Irving: The Fourth Hand
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Жанр : Зарубежная литература первой половины 20 века
Издательство : Random House, Inc.
Год издания : 2003
Аннотация:
»The Fourth Hand» 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». While 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. This 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». «The 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.