The Cider House Rules
Ratings82
Average rating4.1
Raised from birth in the orphanage at St. Cloud's, Maine, Homer Wells has become the protege of Dr. Wilbur Larch, its physician and director. There Dr. Larch cares for the troubled mothers who seek his help, either by delivering and taking in their unwanted babies or by performing illegal abortions. Meticulously trained by Dr. Larch, Homer assists in the former, but draws the line at the latter. Then a young man brings his beautiful fiancee to Dr. Larch for an abortion, and everything about the couple beckons Homer to the wide world outside the orphanage ...
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Popular Reviews
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One of my favorite books ever. There is so much love, compassion and acceptance in it. I love how the orphanage becomes a home and family for those who otherwise don't have a place in the world. Homer Wells is one of my favorite book characters ever. Writing this, I'm convincing myself I want to reread it, and soon!
Amusing.. And kind of disturbing at times (passages on curettage and the “gritty” sound a womb makes when you are cleaning it out...)
I gave this three stars after I read it; I think I was being generous. At one time I thought Irving was the greatest and surely he couldn't write a boring book, right?
Well, this book was quite boring with flat, uninteresting characters.
The point of it is for Irving to repeat “abortion should be legal, abortion should be legal, abortion should be legal.” Everything that happens in the book is in support of that.
I completely agree with this view but that won't make this a good read.
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