Reading 1001 discussion

The Cider House Rules by John Irving
5/5 stars

“Princes of Maine. Kings of New England.”
Ah, my first John Irving and I loved it. I knew almost nothing of the story but I remember that there was a movie staring Michael Cain.

John Irving has a very descriptive writing style. I could always “see” where I was, Maine came alive for me. I also loved the way he wrote about his characters. I had great sympathy for the them and wanted to see what would happen. A sign of a good book for me is being emotionally connected with the characters.

The book touches on many societal issues. Much of the story surrounds the small town of St. Cloud's, a former logging town, that is effected by poverty now that there is no industry. The book also looks at women rights, healthcare for women, adoption, motherhood and abortion. The first 25% of the book is about Dr. Larch and abortion. Once the story leaves St. Cloud's, the societal issues addressed are race relations, love, war, family relationships, coming of age and hypocrisy.

“Homer assumed that Dr Larch used a little ether because he was in some kind of pain; he suspected that almost everyone in St. Cloud's was in some kind of pain, and that Larch, as a doctor, was especially qualified in remedying it.”

“What he loved about the life at Ocean View was how everything was of use and that everything was wanted.”

I realize this book is not for everyone. My friends on Goodreads varied widely in rating this book.

Have you seen the movie, and if so was it a good adaptation?

Kelly wrote: "Have you seen the movie, and if so was it a good adaptation?"

I have requested the movie from the library. When I watch it I will let you know. I like Michael Caine so I think I am going to like it. It looks like it was an Academy Award nominee.

Another good tale by Irving. I liked how he creates interesting, likable, flawed characters. This book examined abortions from every angle and other social commentary as well that did not come across as forcing any political agenda down your craw. Set in time period of just before and during and after WWII in an orphanage where woman came to have an abortion or have an orphan and an apple orchard/cider business.

My review: This book is not for the squeamish, as it is about abortions and the choices surrounding them. In a broader sense this book is about choices in general and how people deal with the choices they do have when they are severely constrained. The women who go to the St. Clouds orphanage have very few options, and no amount of moralizing will expand their options. Either they choose an abortion, or they choose to produce an orphan whose chances of a better life are very very poor. Two of the children that turn up at the orphanage wind up never being adopted. A boy is sent out to several different families and each time it is a bad fit. He likes it at the orphanage, where he knows his role as the director/doctor's helper. Once it becomes clear he is not leaving again, he begins learning how to assist with medical procedures, including births and abortions, and by the time he is an adult he is a proficient midwife.
The other permanent orphan is a big lump of a girl who no one could imagine adopting. Her friendship with the other permanent orphan is the only good thing in her world, so when he emerges into the world to take a summer job at a cider press, her world crumbles and she runs away too. Really, both are adults anyway, but neither has been raised really to be ready to be grown-ups, but they both eventually carve niches for themselves outside the orphanage. But the constraints from their orphan lives continue to haunt them both.
I've read a few Irving books so far. This was not my favorite, but it was well written and by the end of the book you've learned a lot without feeling like you've been reading a textbook. I like that Irving's characters don't perfectly resolve all their issues, and that overall the stories do usually have somewhat happy endings anyway.
I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads.

Read for 2020 TBR Takedown - August

Fantastic book. I was drawn to all of the characters. Each had their unique story and unique 'rules to live by'.

5 stars (Never gave John Irving anything less)

I love this book! I am trying to get into another John Irving's books. I tried "A Prayer for Owen Meany", but haven't succeeded (yet).

Melony became my favorite character in the book. The second was Dr. Larch.

Can someone tell me that Melony's death was a suicide or an accident? I could not figure out.

Just read for my TBR- loved it! Read Garp for my last one and have really enjoyed the little Irving kick. I agree with Celia, both have gotten 5 stars from me so far.

I was a little concerned going in in that I watched the movie first (also amazing!) and tend to be biased to the first iteration of things of read or seen, but both were so great, even if the movie condensed the story by removing Angel and giving many of his experiences to Homer. Irving also wrote the screenplay and won an Oscar for it, so the equal quality does not surprise me.

What I've loved about both of the Irving books I've read so far is how even though the protagonists are straight white men, the stories are fundamentally about compassion for women- especially the more marginalized ones (poor, sex workers, women who need abortions, abused women, WOC, Queer women (trans women too in Garp)). And the protagonists journey has a lot to do with maturing to the point of understanding what that means in practice. In this case it was about why the morality of providing safe abortions isn't about arch morality at all but the utilitarianism of saving lives. It's quite radical and I loved it.

That def gave me a soft spot for Dr. Larch, who is a wonderfully complex and flawed but admirable character. Also does every Irving book have a martyr-y socially radical health practitioner that can be read as asexual in it? Because I hope so- that's a niche I can get into lol.

I love as well how compassionate this book was towards the lives of orphans without ever going in a twee "awww orphans are sad" adversity porn type direction.

Also a massive sucker for unconventional/found family dynamics. And despite some tension within it, I loved how Homer, Candy, Wally, and Angel make up an essentially healthy and loving family unit. And there is a disabled character with an arc and fulfilling life that isn't essentially a prop for able bodied character's pain? amazing.

The Cider house rules themselves also work so well as a metaphor for the whole book: of how proprietary societal rules from people in power apply to those who are not made aware of them and have no say in their creation. How these people, while subjected to them, should carve out their own anyway.

This book had almost everything that speaks to me in it. Loved it. 5 stars.

Pre-2017 review:

****

I knew Irving's work from some of the film adaptations I have seen (The World According to Garp, Hotel New Hampshire), but never read any of his novels so far. I was expecting the same type of quirky, almost far-fetched situations featured in these movies. I was not disappointed. The themes covered in the novel might trigger polarized reactions (access to abortions features prominently), but I don't think these were treated too subjectively (while Larch was decisively pro-choice, Homer Wells was pro-life personally, but would allow the choice if it was performed by others than him). Easy and entertaining read nevertheless.