Wally never explicitly says, 'I know the truth,' but Irving heavily hints that this is the case. In what may be one of the best love triangles of 20th century literature, Candy and Homer continue to sleep together sporadically, even while wondering if Wally knows that Homer's 'adopted' son, Angel, isn't really adopted. It's about compromise.Ĭandy, Wally, and Homer all compromise when Wally returns from his overseas deployment (and subsequent jungle adventure). Cloud's got a new doctor who refused to perform abortions, and Homer lived happily ever after' … well, that would have just sucked. Being the sap that I am, I wish it hadn't been necessary, that Homer could have been spared his fate … but Irving can't change history, and if the book had ended with, 'St. The reader must decide if Larch did the right thing-I would contend that Larch did the necessary thing, regardless of its justice toward Homer and its morality. Cloud's, sacrificing Homer for the greater good. Larch also became a symbol of manipulation and deceit-he very skilfully manoeuvred Homer into becoming his successor at St. Still a father figure and man of great respect, Dr. Of course, the characters were the same-it was my interpretation and judgement of their actions that had changed with my maturation.

While I was reading, I thought, 'these characters think and act far more cynically than I remember,' particularly Dr. Yet on another level, it's also a very exploration of compromise, and that's how I read it this time through. I first read The Cider House Rules as an orphan story. Larch evaluated one prospective adoptive couple for Homer. Yet he still seems, for the most part, content, if not 'deliriously happy,' as Dr. The difficulty Homer encounters in relationships, both with Candy and Wally and with the infamous Melony, emphasizes his sense of isolation, turning it basically into a routine. He's not so much an introvert as a hopeless introspective. He's grown up so much on his own that his mind has retreated to the point where very little of him exists on the surface. Although far from despicable, it's difficult to love Homer as either a character or a person. Homer Wells is an orphan who never manages to escape his loneliness, even when he is 'adopted,' falls in love, and has a child. On one level, The Cider House Rules is an orphan story. It still resonates with me now, although for somewhat different reasons.

I know it's not my favourite John Irving novel, but it did resonate with me when I was younger. It must have been two or three years BG (Before Goodreads). While reading this book, I formed two major opinions: firstly, John Irving deserves every whit of respect he can get as a writer secondly, The Cider House Rules is a very different book now from the book it was then, back when I read it the first time.

The cider house rules book