At first glance this story appears as a grapefruit; an eye-catching, attractive piece, that looks enjoyable. Any story about an orphan has to be an instant American classic, as our society claims:
Jane Eyre, Moby Dick. In
Cider House, however, the narrator is unknown and after the first page, it takes another fifty pages to actually correctly introduce our supposedly main character, Homer.
It discussions more about Dr. Larch, the one and only man who decided to have an orphan, adopting, abortion, and hospital all in one building and name it St. Clouds. As well as the two nurses, Nurse Angela and Nurse Edna, who watch Homer, grow into a young man. So like the grapefruit, once you bite into it, it tastes bittersweet, more so bitter then sweet in this unique case.
Homer, an orphan of course, never truly loved any family except the St. Clouds family. After three different horrific family experiences: making him shout out screams of pain from pinches, environmentally hippies who died in a stream, a wealthy family hiding their problems, Dr. Larch and the nurses decided it would be best for Homer to stay at St. Clouds. Truly a wise idea, he will see pregnant women come in and leave un-pregnant, as well as pregnant mothers come in and leave an unwanted child. Brilliant idea. Homer lost his innocence in the second chapter, “’I found something,’ Homer Wells said. He held out his hand, and Larch took the fetus from him… it was about three months-at the most, four. ‘What is it?’ Homer Wells asked” (70).
Do you know those books that have an amazing plot line but it takes over one-hundred pages for it to get interesting? Do you want an example of one? Cider House Rules is a prime example. Not to disrespect the well-respected John Irving, but the book was difficult to jump into. For example, attempting to get into a boring history documentary on events that happen back in the 1700s at 7:20 on a Monday morning. It is a great movie, but not a great book. It is filled with encouraging characters, but not exciting ones. It is original, but lacks the creativity to call it amazing. This is a conservational one-sided book, you either hate it or you love it. No matter how much you hate it, you have to agree with this: the story will capture your heart as you join Homer on his journey to discover himself.
No matter how much love, it is still, in my opinion, a bad read that takes forever to get into. Honestly, I couldn’t get past the 200
th page. It didn’t really discuss Homers journey, only Dr. Larch’s to becoming a doctor. I don’t recommend this specific book by John Irving, but his other highly appreciated works.
As the wise Dr. Larch said, “Here in St. Clouds, we learn to love the difficult,” (586). And trust me; eating a grapefruit with no stopping is as difficult as getting to page 587. The first bite in anything is always difficult to get past. However, it would have been worth the wait to end the awaited mystery of what Homer decided to accomplish with his precious life.
