Tagged: John Irving

The Cider House Rules

cider house rules john irvingThe Cider House Rules by John Irving, 2/5

The experience of reading my second John Irving book could not be more different than the first.  Whereas I approached his A Prayer for Owen Meany with suspicion that changed to surprised delight, the glowing reviews and popularity of The Cider House Rules ill-prepared me for an unenjoyable story that left me feeling dirty and unsatisfied.  There is no questioning Irving’s talent as a writer, but I found the book’s case for abortion to be repellently illogical and lazy, while the characters were mostly unlikeable and the adult content was disgusting (and, in my opinion, artistically unjustified).

[Why I read it: It’s famous, I enjoyed Irving’s Owen Meany, and a very likeable, intelligent person I met in Wales named it as one of his favourite novels.]

A Prayer for Owen Meany

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, 5/5

This novel is about the life of the diminutive, brilliant, earnest, prophetic, strangely-voiced, otherworldly Owen Meany, as seen through the eyes of his best friend.  Reading this book was the most surprising literary experience I’ve had since enjoying War and Peace.  I got it out of the library at the same time as The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and unreasonably expected it to be similarly horrid.  However, unlike most modern authors I’ve experienced, Irving didn’t waste my time and leave me feeling dirty and insulted.  The writing was so good, the characters so strangely believable, and the situations so oddly beautiful that the whole endeavor seemed inspired.