Reading a John Irving is like riding a roller coaster: you are constantly being challenged - you either hate or love it. I was familiar with Irving (having read his Garp, Hotel New Hampshire, Water Method Man, Widow for a Year, Owen Meany) and simply loved Cider House Rules! Why? I found the main characters (in particular Homer and Angel Wells, Dr. Wilbur Larch, his nurses etc.) very likeable and was thus captured by the story: What's going to happen to them?! At times, I was so excited I found it hard to breath, feeling trapped in the story with these imaginery people whose destiny mattered to me. Yes, there is a lot to think about, too: Live and let live (abortion,adoption, disabilities and lots and lots of human relationships). And for me it became true what Irving once said about his novels: The reader doesn't want to know how his novel end, but wants them to never end.
