# Best John Irving novel?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-john-irving-novel/79619>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 4, 2001, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-john-irving-novel/79619 "2001-09-04T04:24:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![whoami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9a28c/32.png) [@whoami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whoami)\
**Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-john-irving-novel/79619/1 "2001-09-04T04:24:18Z")

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I just got done reading his latest last week, “The Fourth Hand”, and it seemed to me to be lacking in the ‘totality’ of his other works. It seemed like a much-edited version of a much longer work. I did enjoy the dog-turd lacrosse passages and the doctors’ infightings.

For the record, my favorite of his more recent work is “The Cider House Rules”, but I can’t re-read it without imagining Tobey MacGuire as Homer - I always mentally pictured Homer as a beefier, less dorky kinda guy. I also highly recommend “Setting Free the Bears”, one of his first novels.

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**Author:** ![whoami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9a28c/32.png) [@whoami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whoami)\
**Post date:** [September 4, 2001, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-john-irving-novel/79619/2 "2001-09-04T04:27:02Z")

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I SWEAR I did a search on “John Irving” before starting this… Then when I return back to the Forum I see another. Doh!