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Summary: For another reviewer
Review: Another Reviewer below mine said that being an orphan 100 years ago was tough. The book did not take place 100 years ago and the scenes in the orphanage did not take place 100 years ago. Besides that, your review was good but I just wanted to clear that up. By the way I thought this book was very good. If you have read the book and not yet seen it I suggest seeing it, but it isn't nearly as good as the book. I saw the movie before I read the book and it is one of my favorite movies. I read the book, and thought it was so good that I read it again, and again. John Irving is a terrific writer and I suggest reading his others novels. Specifically, I suggest A Prayer for Owen Meany and The World According to Garp. Those are my favorites. Thank-you
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Summary: Human Bondage revisited
Review: This was a delightful book that I would liken more to W.Somerset Maughm than Dickens. There is something about the urgency of the character's plight, the very human bondage that they are caught up in, that is very touching and begs our sympathy if not approval. This is not a pro abortion story. Even Dr. Larch has his foibles. "Maybe if he weren't doing the gas so much he'd respect life more," might be a retort. In fact, not in single character in the novel is justified, just as humanity is not really justified. It's just a sad story. But we can admire them, Larch, Homer, and the others, for their pluck to carry on. It's an uplifting story in that sense. They all manage to be useful,just like Homer. Right. That's actually not a bad ethic. Irving is teaching forgiveness. As all his characters are flawed, you're never given a classically moral person as a baseline to hate from. Homer is nominally the protagonist, but he doesn't amount to a classical hero or anithero. Nor does Dr. Larch or the others. Except in their steadfastness. But that may be the final defintion of a hero, someone who hangs in there no matter what. One is tempted to hand copies out to the stridently "pro-life" folk, as if to say, "See, life is much more complex than all that!" But of course it would fall far short of dissuading them. One needs a certain capacity of the heart to appreciate this book, to love the characters in it for what they are, and for some there are boundaries to that capacity that may not be exceeded. That is more our bondage than flesh.
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Summary: Good, but not great political literature.
Review: John Irving became one of my favorite writers for a few simple reasons; he created flawed, yet tremendous, characters and his sense of timing for revealing information is incredible. The World According to Garp is a perfect example of his excellence, he created a world and reveals it to the reader in such a charming and simplistic way that it is impossible to summize the feeling of the book without reading the entire novel cover to cover. The Cider House does not compete. It is still head and shoulders above much of the fiction out there and an excellent read in general, but it does not have the 'star' power of some of Irvings other books. The characters are interesting, but a little too cliche, lacking commitment to the unexpected. This complaint is true to the plot of the book; it is derived, and unlike any other Irving book I have read, completely predictable. Unfortunately the characters are not enough to pull the book out of this problem. In my personal opinion, Irving sacrificed some of his natural story-telling ability in order to write a simple polemic on abortion. Characters blend together in order to state, justify, and restate his pro-choice stance. He covers every conceivable angle of the issue, and while I have no problem with the issue itself, I would prefer my authors to the leave the politics out of their fiction. All in all, this book is more entertaining that 90 percent of the other works out there, and worth the read, especially if one is a true Irving fan. The World According to Garp, however, remains one of my favorite all time reads.
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Summary: Well written, but convoluted plot gets out of control
Review: For the first three chapters or so I was mesmerized by Irving's elegant writing style, and felt very drawn in to his tale of an orphan who goes out into the world in search of the love, family and home he was denied as a child. But after a while the prose gets annoying, you can only take so much of it before it gets tired. I saw the movie first (which I reccomend doing, because it helped me from getting too frustrated), and I expected it to be different. I just didn't realize that it would be THIS different. John Irving must have realized that the subplots were pointless and barely interesting (particularly Melony's, especially considering that her lasting effect comes after Homer has already made his decision). The movie eliminates them, and flows all the better for it. And the movie gets rid of a lot of the plot twists that make the book seem like a ludicrous soap opera (i.e. Angel, Homer's love child with Candy). The characters aren't very likeable, either. Even those who start out nicely become too arrogant (Dr. Larch), obnoxious (Wally), or Wimpy (Homer and Candy - who spends the entire book refusing to make decisions). I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think you should see the movie instead of struggling through this too long, too convoluted book that loses its charm all too quickly.
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Summary: A must read for the closed-minded.
Review: I usually read two kinds of books: novels for entertainment, and instructional or historical books for information. Rarely does a book both entertain and create a dialogue within yourself (at least for me). Irving tells a wonderful, yet at times, heart-wrenching story. Being an orphan in today's world would be hard enough; being an orphan 100 years ago had to be much worse. And don't believe the talk about Irving just ripping off Dickens, even though Dickens is referenced to throughout the book, the references enhance the feel and create a deeper empathy for children in that environment. I don't want to give away one of the driving themes of the book, but this theme is still discussed today, and no matter which side you happen to agree with, Irving attaches characters and emotions to something usually reserved for detached, abstract religious debate. The book is big-hearted, yet very tough, and sometimes vulgar, just like life.
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Summary: HOMER'S SPIRITUAL ODYSSEY
Review: The story of Homer Wells, a boy with a heart full of emotions and ideals, grown up at the St. Cloud's Orphanage in Maine, and of putative-father Wilbur Larch, a physician sheltering in his institute abandoned newborns and facilitating the abortions of women, who otherwise would end up in the hands of butchers. Larch educates the boy and teaches him the profession, hoping one day he would take his place. Homer, however, prefers to leave the orphanage and lead his own life by working in the fields, in a farm producing cider. Soon he will discover he knows nothing of the adult world, and will have to confront pains, hardships and personal crises, in a long way to understand the rules of life. A path of growth in a novel rich with atmosphere and sentiments, tackling with the existential questions of life, death and love.
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Summary: The Cider House Rules
Review: This is the first John Irving book that I've read, but I'm hooked. To me, the strength of the novel is that all of its characters are flawed, imperfect, and therefore, very human. Despite their flaws, each of them in their own way is a hero. John Irving handled such touchy subjects as abortion, addiction, and adultery, all with a sympathetic touch. The humor and humanity of the story and its characters is quite beautiful. I will definitely be reading many other books by John Irving, and I highly recommend this book to open minded readers who enjoy the highs, and lows of human nature.
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Summary: I'm now a John Irving fan
Review: John Irving is a great story teller. I can't wait to read more of his work. I loved this book. It was an interesting story full of great and diverse characters. I loved the humor; I actually laughed out loud many times! With the way the characters are written, I actually felt anger and sadness for some of them during the not-so-amusing scenes. One reviewer found the story to be predictable. I also foresaw the ending, but because the road leading there was so well told, I wasn't disappointed in the least. I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to others.
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Summary: so much more than the movie
Review: if you haven't seen the movie yet, treat yourself by reading the book first. if you've already seen the movie, the first half of the book will be all too familiar and almost maddeningly slow. but just about halfway through, the book picks up where the movie left off and opens into another dimension or two.
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Summary: Dickensonian Style Not An Entirely Good Thing
Review: This book seems to have been widely compared to Charles Dickens in style but personally, I never really liked Dickens. I always felt he rambled on and on about irrelevant things and could hardly bear to finish a Tale of Two Cites. It was a good concept that got weighed down by the author's obsession with detail. But moving on to The Cider House Rules, I often felt the same sense of frustration. Such description is a double-edged sword: While you know all the characters better at the same time you don't really need to know every character well for it to be good literature. Not to mention some minor characters you got to know like that turned out to be stereotypical stock characters. There are a few other problems too. The characters,while sometimes quirky, are sometimes just annoying or unbelievable. In the end, because of age maybe, Dr. Larch seemed more like a narrowminded fundamentalist stuck in his ways than the compassionate character he was earlier on. That Candy and Homer would be so concerned about propriety was a flaw, seemingly for dramatic convenience. Overall, this book took me a very long time to read for a lot of reasons, and I don't know if I would reccomend it. While it does explore both sides of the abortion; the underlying theme throughout seems to be pro-choice, which can be considered good or bad depending on your views. It has gotten me especially curious to see the movie though. I also doubt if I will read anymore Irving-at the end of this book I was more relieved to be finished than moved by it's artistry.
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