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Review
—The Boston Sunday Globe
"An example, now rare, of the courage of imaginative ardor."
—The New York Times Book Review
Book Description
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In the hospital of the orphanage-the boy's division at St. Cloud's, Maine-two nurses were in charge of naming the new babies and checking that their little penises were healing from the obligatory circumcision. Read the first page
Concordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
This book rules!,
This review is from: The Cider House Rules (Paperback)
I revisited 'The Cider House Rules' recently, just before picking up another of John Irving's earlier novels, and I again recalled before I reached page 25 what it was about Irving and this novel that made me fall in love with his writing. 'The Cider House Rules' is an epic, Dickensian story, a didactic old-fashioned tale of love and loss that speaks to both the most basic human dilemmas and contentious contemporary subjects. Irving writes with an absurdist aplomb that causes me to find myself laughing when I would never expect to, and cry soon thereafter; his character Homer Wells is a delight, winsome and true. 'The Cider House Rules' is an exquisite novel, and one of the greatest achievements in American letters. If you enjoyed books such as McCrae's "Children's Corner" or Wolfe's "A Man in Full," then you'll like this one as well.
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best novels ever!!,
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This review is from: The Cider House Rules (Mass Market Paperback)
Just loved Cider House, savored every word and felt the characters were alive. So, so sad to finish it. Irving is a fabulous storyteller, makes you laugh and cry. I have read hundreds if not thousands of books and this is in my top 20.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Thought provoking overall, but unsatisfying ending,
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This review is from: The Cider House Rules (Mass Market Paperback)
The book is great at raising the social issues in a context that makes sense - unwanted pregnancies, ethics of abortion or abandonment of newborns, etc. It also talks about poverty, depravation of one's childhood environment, the need to understand social cues to function in society, etc. All of this it does very well.And until about 2/3 of the way through the book, although the main characters are in situations that are often not easy and don't often make the choices that the reader might have chosen for them, you understand why they did it and can empathize with how they're feeling. Melony, damaged girl-to-adult that she is, ironically emerges as one of the most sympathetic characters in her wandering, violent, vindictive bid for some kind of love and satisfaction with her life. However, the last third has me losing sypathy with the characters, Candy in particular. (...spoilers...) I cannot justify the level of lying that Candy in particular forced on Homer and Angel for 15 years until circumstances force their hand. I cannot justify how she uses uncertainty to effectively have her cake and eat it too - be married to Wally, love him, but sleep with Homer too and after a fashion love him too - for 15 years! She denies Homer any chance to have moved on with his life, found a new life for him and his son (since Homer is Angel's primary parent), which is wrong. As Wally says, she's manipulative. However, one can understand more easily why Wally puts up with her - he's a paraplegic and would have trouble getting by without help. And when the big "reveal" happens, it's a complete letdown - we don't even get a full description of Wally and Angel's reactions! And to top it off, Homer's finally acquiescing to Dr. Larch's wanting Homer to come back to St. Cloud's and pretend to be a doctor... end one form of dishonesty for an even worse one! If you can overlook my major objections, the book is still worth reading. But if the interpersonals will bother you, you might not want to get into it.
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