![]() The instigating tragedy is comparatively minor: Beefcake newscaster Patrick Wallingford's left hand is eaten by an Indian circus lion. It is shorter than the others, certainly, but it also matters less. "The Fourth Hand," Irving's first novel since winning the Academy Award for the screenplay of "The Cider House Rules," is comparatively small. In "A Prayer for Owen Meany," the central character's mother dies in a freak Little League accident. In "Hotel New Hampshire," the narrator's mother and kid brother perish in a plane crash. In "A Widow for One Year," Ruth's brothers die in a car accident, her father commits suicide and she witnesses a serial killer at work. They are long and full of sudden, wrenching tragedies that leave lasting - if not permanent - scars on their heroes. ![]() John Irving's novels generally feel enormous. ![]()
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