Book Review
The Cider House Rules
- by John Irving
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I suppose I could say that ‘The Cider House Rules’ is about a boy, an orphan, who grows up in an orphanage run by a doctor who’s also an abortionist, meets a young couple there, goes away with them and falls in love with the woman.

But to do that would be to miss out on most of what makes this book great – complex characters, vivid descriptions of people, places and incidents, deep and meaningful themes and arguments about life.

Dr Wilbur Larch operates an orphanage somewhere in northern Maine. The setting is a large apple orchard, in which the orphans help out in the cider house alongside migrant workers during the picking season. Dr. Larch, who delivers many illegitimate babies during his tenure as director of the orphanage comes to the conclusion that perhaps abortion is a better answer for some of the young women who land on his doorstep --- twelve year old girls, victims of rape and so on --- so he becomes an abortionist.

Homer Wells is one of the orphans growing up under his tutelage, who seems to be unadoptable! Although he is a bright and enterprising boy, he returns time and again. Dr. Larch realizes that Homer will probably spend his life at the orphanage, so Dr Larch decides to train him to take over his profession.

Wally and Candy are the young couple (who come there for an abortion) whom Homer befriends. He leaves the orphanage and Dr Larch to go live and work on the apple farm. The cider house rules refer to a set of unspoken but very well understood rules of the migrant apple pickers. At some point Wally leaves to join the war and Homer falls in love with the wife of his closest friend. And this is when the ‘rules’ come into play; the battle for Homer’s commitments if you will.

John Irving seems to specialize in complex, multilayered characters (remember Garp?). Here too, throughout the book the characters are faced with these incredible life decisions.

4 to 4 and a half on a scale of 5.