John Irving

After watching bits and pieces of this movie, I wanted to read the book.

This is my first Irving novel; I found his writing and the story unlike anything I've come across before. It's predictable in some ways, but entirely unpredictable in many. It is hilarious in parts, moving in some, but compelling always. A lot of it is disconcerting, but never vulgar or repulsive even in the most explicit bits.

Dr Wilbur Larch is in charge of an orphanage called St. Cloud's, where he performs the deliveries and takes care of the babies until he finds homes for them. He is successful most of the time, with one exception: a boy called Homer Wells.

Dr Larch believes in the 'Lord's work' (delivering babies) but he also believes in the 'Devil's work' (abortions, what he calls 'delivering the mothers'). To him, both are the Lord's work, and he spends much of his energy trying to make abortion legal in the country. But since it is illegal at the time, he is the only known person who performs them safely and professionally.

Homer, being in the orphanage even in his teens, must now be of more 'use' (Larch believes in people being 'of use'): he trains to be an assistant to the doctor. Homer becomes a skilled obstetrician with 'near perfect procedure' as Larch says, but Homer refuses to perform abortions because he feels that the fetus has a soul. He also feels he cannot call himself a doctor since he has not been to medical school.

After becoming an adult in the orphanage, Homer gets attracted to one of the patients and discovers a home for himself through her at the Ocean View apple orchards. Dr Larch wants Homer to return to the St Cloud's and carry on his work as the doctor grows old, but Homer prefers to be an expert at growing apples.

Strange situations, solutions and people but convincing and hard to leave. You see the faults in your favourite characters and find something to appreciate in the scary ones. The Cider House Rules is an unforgettable, admirable work.