THE CIDER HOUSE RULES

THE CIDER HOUSE RULES

There are many books, which, once started, you don’t want to put down. But there are some which are so good that, as you start nearing the end, you want to go on but at the same time, don’t want it to end. THE CIDER HOUSE RULES is one such book. As I was nearing the denouement, my heart was filled with the sorrow that the exquisite pleasure which I was deriving from it was soon going to end.

                A very unromantic setting in a decrepit orphanage, an apple orchard and a Cider House; a very unlikely hero- an ill adjusted erratically educated orphan, and a subject as controversial and relevant as abortion form the background. With such an odd assortment, John Irving has weaved a magical tale of intense human emotions, an epic love story with his trademark twists and turns which leave you amazed at his total mastery over his craft. In his inimitable style, independent unconnected events inexorably converge into a crescendo of breath-taking catastrophe which you can see coming but can do nothing about.

It also has a poignant war story with predictable ingredients. But it is not the wounded soldier who meets with a tragic fate.

The issue of and the moral angle in ‘abortion’ is handled with sensitivity and without any ideological bias. Exploitation of blacks by the landed gentry is also touched upon in a non-judgemental way, more like a chronicle of those times rather than as a social commentary on the ills of slave labour. Even rape and incest are depicted without dramatization and without condemning the offending persons as black villains.          

In short,  it is an unlikely masterpiece from a great author.

Reading such books also shatters all my fond hopes of ever becoming a writer. I despair I can never write half as well, howsoever hard I may try.