The Cider House Rules: A Novel (Paperback)
Staff Reviews
Cider House Rules by John Irving is a masterpiece. Set in rural Maine, it is tells the story of Dr. Larch, an ether addict abortionist and Homer Wells an orphan at the orphanage run by Dr. Larch.
St. Cloud is an orphanage with a difference, Dr. Larch runs the orphanage with care for his young charges. He also performs abortions (an illegal action at the time), offering women a choice. Homer develops a father son relationship with Dr. Larch, the older man caring for and training the younger.
While Dr. Larch is clearly pro-choice, Homer is opposed to abortion. He leaves the orphanage with a young couple, finds love, breaks his heart and ultimately faces hard choices and trying circumstances.
But this book is so much more! It has great heart. Irving imbues his characters with passion, gives them moral dilemmas, and asks significant questions. He also entertains. John Irving can be very funny. To write a novel on such an explosive topic with such a deft touch is genius.
— Deon Stonehouse
Description
“The Cider House Rules is filled with people to love and to feel for. . . . The characters in John Irving’s novel break all the rules, and yet they remain noble and free-spirited.”—The Houston Post
First published in 1985, The Cider House Rules is set in rural Maine in the first half of the twentieth century. The novel tells the story of Dr. Wilbur Larch—saint and obstetrician, founder and director of the orphanage in the town of St. Cloud’s, ether addict and abortionist. This is also the story of Dr. Larch’s favorite orphan, Homer Wells, who is never adopted.
Praise for The Cider House Rules
“ [Irving] is among the very best storytellers at work today. At the base of Irving’s own moral concerns is a rare and lasting regard for human kindness.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“ Superb in scope and originality, a novel as good as one could hope to find from any author, anywhere, anytime. Engrossing, moving, thoroughly satisfying.”—Joseph Heller
“ An old-fashioned, big-hearted novel . . . with its epic yearning caught in the nineteenth century, somewhere between Trollope and Twain.”—Boston Sunday Globe
About the Author
John Irving has been nominated for a National Book Award three times—winning once, in 1980, for the novel The World According to Garp. In 1992, Mr. Irving was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2000, he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules—a film with seven Academy Award nominations.
Praise For…
“The Cider House Rules is filled with people to love and to feel for. . . . The characters in John Irving’s novel break all the rules, and yet they remain noble and free-spirited.”—The Houston Post
“ [Irving] is among the very best storytellers at work today. At the base of Irving’s own moral concerns is a rare and lasting regard for human kindness.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“ Superb in scope and originality, a novel as good as one could hope to find from any author, anywhere, anytime. Engrossing, moving, thoroughly satisfying.”—Joseph Heller
“ An old-fashioned, big-hearted novel . . . with its epic yearning caught in the nineteenth century, somewhere between Trollope and Twain.”—Boston Sunday Globe
