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Title: watered down Irving deep disappointment
Review: I love John Irving's writing, and picked this book up without even reading the jacket copy. Initially, the story seemed engaging--a television news anchor loses his hand to a lion, becomes known as "the lion guy" and goes to work reporting for a tacky news show--and typical of Irving's wacky outlook. Yet, there was a desultory feeling all the way through the book that all would turn out as expected, and it did. The love story within the novel wasn't at all interesting, maybe because it focused on Patrick's life rather than Doris's. She was the interesting character, in my humble opinion. I had heard that Irving was incredibly persnickety about his books, often changing type after it had been set. What happened to this book? I'll read his next, though. This one just isn't up to the magic he's capable of creating.
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