CIDER HOUSE RULES, THE（ISBN=9780345387653）

　　"Superb in scope and originality, a novel as good as one could hope to find from any author, anywhere, anytime. Engrossing, moving, thoroughly satisfying."
　　——Joseph Heller
　　From the Hardcover edition.

　　In many ways this is a wonderful novel with interesting, alive, characters. The medical aspects are absorbing and relevant, and the plot, the story, is grandiose, immense, and fascinating. Before you read the book, read the author's acknowledgements at the end. Irving's grandfather was a leading gynecologist, and he had his medical facts checked by experts. (There are other interesting tidbits in the acknowledgements.) John Irving is obviously a master novelist and he has lavished intense energy and creativity on this book.
　　I just cannot help carping a bit. My qualm is that the "political" aspects are all a little too pat and comforting. Among the many characters we have the active, involved, and lively cripple (opps, sorry, I mean "differently abled person"); the abusive husband; the dignified, poor but honest negroes; the lovable orphans; the tough but ultimately gentle and sexually confused lesbian; the sad but dedicated and kindly illegal abortionists; and so on. For anyone other than a devout anti-abortion type this is all very soft pitch ideology. "Rules are made to be broken, and need to be if life is to go on." We already knew that. Irving is preaching to the converted. There is nothing here to disturb or disrupt or to lead us to ponder our cherished myths. Perhaps I should say that the only disturbing aspect for me is that Irving seems to condone violence, even murder, when it is done by women against men. The author is coddling our prejudices. With Irving's deep talent I think he could do more to challenge us and our ideas.

　　John Irving, for my money, is one of the top two or three American storytellers of our time. Like Dickens, his literary hero, Irving is always concerned with his readers' well-being. His novels range from the sublime (The World According to Garp) to the mediocre (The 158-Pound Marriage), but even the weakest are entertaining.
　　The Cider House Rules falls beneath sublime but well above mediocre. The characters are engaging (it would be a mean reader indeed who did not root for the protagonist, Homer Wells) and the plot meanders about pleasantly. Sometimes the tearful moments seem too easy-- nobody can stay dry-eyed when a cute little orphan keels over-- but the book bravely explores the complexities of love and abortion without preaching for any particular side.