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Title: Flat Style, Dull Book
Review: John Irving has become a brand name. While the "Show-Don't Tell Rule" is hardly a "rule" that must be followed rigidly by every author, it was never more evident than in this book why this advice is so often repeated in writing lectures. Most of THE FOURTH HAND is summarized, like someone explaining what happened in the book, rather than dramatized with dialogue and action. If a new writer presented this, it would be discarded as lazy writing. John Irving, like Thomas Harris (HANNIBAL) or even Woody Allen, presents this based on the strength of his name, and people will praise it for that reason alone. I have to struggle to keep reading it, and I love many of Irving's earlier books. Then again, maybe this is "Art" and I'm just a moron.
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