"The Cider House Rules is filled with people to love and to feel for...
The characters in John Irving's newest novel break all the rules, and yet
they remain noble and free-spirited. Victims of tragedy, violence, and
injustice, their lives seem more interesting and full of thought-provoking
dilemmas than the lives of many real people."
[The Houston Post]
This may be Irving's most political novel, due to its continual meditation on the morality of abortion. Yet to say Cider House Rules is about abortion is akin to saying A Prayer for Owen Meany is about Viet Nam. There is, as always, a myriad of themes, including truth, betrayal, and fatherly kisses. The relationship between Dr. Larch and Homer Wells may well be the most touching relationship in all of Irving's works.
![[IMAGE]](redball.gif){kind=small}
Back
to the Works of John Irving page
Back
to the Very Unofficial John Irving Home Page