Bellissimo da leggere, nonostante sia un bel mattone l'ho divorato in pochi giorni. Le tematiche che tratta il romanzo sono ancora molto attuali. Una delle più belle scoperte di quest'anno.

Ah, to me there is nothing better than a John Irving novel. What a great time for a re-read of one of his best! No one tells a story better and the life of orphan Homer Wells gets the full Irving treatment in this novel. Can't wait for his new novel - coming out in 2018 I've heard.

n  ” Le regole (egli arguiva) non pregano; le regole ordinano.”n

Pubblicato nel 1985, “Le regole della casa del sidro”, è un romanzo molto conosciuto soprattutto per la trasposizione cinematografica del 1999.
La storia è ambientata nel nebbioso Maine tra il 1910 ed il 1940.
All’orfanotrofio di St Cloud’s, William Larch si occupa di far nascere bambini destinati all’abbandono ma, allo stesso tempo, è determinato nel sostenere quelle madri che, invece, scelgono l’aborto:

”... il lavoro del Signore e quello del Diavolo.”

Tra i tanti bambini ospitati, spicca Homer Wells che dopo una serie di grottesche adozioni fallite resta nella struttura come aiutante di Larch.
La vita abitudinaria tra la sala operatoria e la lettura serale di Dickens ai più piccoli, sembra ad Homer un punto fermo fino al giorno in cui arriva una coppia di fidanzati che stravolgeranno la sua vita...

La seconda parte del romanzo si svolge su più piani: da un lato Homer e la sua scoperta del mondo con le sue regole e delle sue complicate relazioni;
dall’altra Larch, che abbandonato da questo figlio putativo diventa sempre più dipendente dall’etere.

Forse a tratti un po’ dispersivo ma comunque un romanzo di grande ricchezza di personaggi, di ambientazioni e di contenuti.


” “Interferisco, io, forse?” domandò Larch. “Quando una donna assolutamente priva di mezzi mi dice che non può rassegnarsi ad abortire, che deve invece, semplicemente, mettere al mondo un altro orfano... interferisco, io? M’immischio forse?
“No,” disse, raschiando. “L’assisto nel parto, mannaggia. E credi che sia felice in genere la vita dei bambini che nascono qui? Credi forse che il loro futuro sia roseo?”

Это очень добрая книга, хотя временами слишком праведная, иногда чересчур откровенная – в чём в чём, в ханжестве Ирвинга нельзя упрекнуть, это книга о сиротах, брошенных матерями, книга о молодых матерях, брошенных мужчинами, книга о гинекологах, делающих моральный выбор – когда появляется душа у младенца и этично ли делать аборты или этично ли не делать аборты, если он может помочь женщине избавиться от нежеланной беременности? В книге много натуралистичных подробностей, но их шокирующая реалистичность с медицинскими подробностями из акушерской практики придает диагностической честности этой книге. Эта книга, призванная пробуждать подавленный голос совести у безответственных отцов и несчастных матерей сирот, у общества, отказывающем женщинам в праве отказаться от нежеланной беременности, не оказывающего поддержку одиноким матерям, вынужденным отказываться от своих детей. В ушах звучат безутешные рыдания Кудри Дея о том, что «он самый лучший», думающего, что красивая чета Кенди и Уолли пришла выбирать ребенка для усыновления и что они остановили выбор на почти взрослом Гомере. Да, он самый лучший и вообще все ребятишки в приюте – самые лучшие. Он пишет о Сент-Облаке, как о нечто вневременном, внепространственном и незыблемом (сироты не любят перемен) с внешне кажущейся унылостью, но наполненной светом и теплом. И действительно, брошенные дети в этом приюте имеют свою большую семью.
Дилемма делать или не делать аборты решается в пользу абортов.
Что в книге показалось слишком уж невозможным – тройственный союз в течение 15 лет. Никто не догадался, никто не сорвался, все бесконфликтно и безревностно. Это не человеки. Если Кенди спит одновременно с двумя мужчинами, и Гомер остается спокойно принимающим наличие другого сексуального партнера в ее жизни, это кажется противным человеческой природе, - либо он ее не любит, либо он абсолютно бесчувственен. Сама Кенди тоже считает приемлемым ради непричинения боли Уолли, открытую полигамность (хотя бы для одного из партнеров). Кроме того, пусть даже Гомер все изучил на практике, как в век назад повивальные бабки, его согласие практиковать родовспоможение и аборты без медицинского образования, кажутся не просто смелыми, но и где-то даже преступными, во всяком случае, ему приходится взять другое имя. Кроме того, проповедуемая жизненная философия «жить, чтобы приносить пользу», безусловно, заслуживает всяческого уважения, и, наверное, бывают такие люди, но их мало. Даже сам Гомер сначала стремился быть счастливым мужем и отцом, и только потом решил посвятить себя «промыслу Господню» - родам женщин, не желающих детей, и абортам тех, кому по сроку беременности возможно освободиться от бремени.
Роман поднимает огромное количество социальных, этических, гендерных, расовых, политических проблем, проблем семейного насилия, нетерпимости, он просто раскалывает моральными дилеммами все общество, начиная с зародышевого состояния. Это роман, который защищает право женщин самим выбирать свою судьбу. К сожалению, все еще в большом количестве стран аборты запрещены, и поднимаемые проблемы остаются в повестке дня.

Funny, engaging, smart, sentimental, and rather popular. It's main topics are: abortion (the book is quite pro-abortion and makes a very good case), orphans and their status as an alternative to an abortion (with David Copperfield and Jane Eyre characters/books playing an important and positive role here), the father-son relationship, strong characters and their visions that change things in the world, WW2 and its effects on the American society, poverty and prostitution, naming children and what it means, rules and breaking them (as the title implies), knowing or not knowing your parents, the pivotal importance of doctors and their conscience, manual labor and orchards, love and family, and so on. It is nice to see how characters like Larch, Homer, Melony, Wally, Candy, Olive, Rose, Angel, and so on determine and push each other in positive and critical ways.

Never read John Irving. Never saw the movie, and shame on me, being an English teacher and all! This book was fantastic. Vivid descriptions, well-thought and exquisitely written characters - it was a gem, a pure classic in every sense of the word. This goes as a 5-star in the "Classics" realm but I also found myself engaged the entire time. Mad at certain characters, cheering for others..The social commentary wasn't 'in your face' by any means, but the topic of abortion as the back-drop to the story was intense at times and I thought it was thought-provoking. It made you stop to see how things would look on both sides of the issue. Add to that the setting of an orphanage and it added a twist, sort of a "now look at things in ALL these ways" sort of book. Opened my eyes a bit, you would say - a thinking person's book, and I desperately enjoyed that. Poetic.. that's my one word summary.

I had been recommended this book numerouse times by friends and when I read it I realised its actually one of those books that I wish I had not finished and given up halfway. This was the first Irving novel that I have read and it will be the last as I found this novel totally overwritten and boring, I did not like and feel anything for any of the characters and the reason I did finish the book I wanted to find the reason that this book is such a big hit, sadly I didn't and therefore only a 2 star read for me.

4.5
I found the first 200 pages of this book to be just okay. They flew by fairly quickly and I was more or less enjoying it, but I can't say I cared too much either. It took me a little while to adjust to the writing style too, in particular the way it seemed to jump from one thing to another with little warning. At some point I realised I'd gotten used to this, and had found some sort of firm footing as I read.

What's interesting for me about this is that there were many times when I didn't really care about what was happening, I wasn't that interested in Homer or his life or Candy, who I had wildly mixed feelings about, but I still liked the book. I was mulling over that as I finished the final pages, when a line ended up summing up perfectly what I felt:

('Here in St. Cloud's,' Wilber Larch had written, 'we learn to love the difficult.')

Something that was slightly annoying for me is that the blurb on my copy of the book refers to Homer's, 'strange relationship with the wife of his closest friend.' Which meant that the entire time Wally is missing, I knew he had to be alive and would return and marry Candy! An odd decision to give that away.

Dr. Larch is the only character I liked for the entirety of the book, described in the same blurb as, 'a man of rare compassion and with an addiction to ether.'

One of my favourite of Larch's observations is this one, regarding croquet:

'From a watercolor of some strange lawn games, he had once imagined that striking a wooden ball with a wooden mallet as hard as he could would be rewarding, but he wanted time to practice this art alone and unobserved.'

I feel that way about many things-- I wouldn't mind trying it, but certainly not in front of many people, especially if those people already know what to do!

Overall a book I did enjoy. I want to read more by John Irving, especially 'The World According to Garp', since I loved the movie. I will also try to find the movie version of 'The Cider House Rules', since I have heard it is good.

3,5*

Završio sam sa čitanjem ove knjige pre tri dana, ali nikako nisam uspeo da sredim utiske kako bih se odlučio za konačnu ocenu i komentar. Knjiga je, kao što svi znate, prilično obimna i potrebno je neko vreme da se pročita i "svari" s obzirom na tematiku kojom se bavi. Moja najveća rastrzanost oko prenošenja utisaka sastoji se u tome što je knjiga odlično napisana (Irving jeste velemajstor), ali mi sama priča nije bila na najvišem nivou i u njoj ima dosta stvari koje mi se nisu dopale.

Knjiga se iscrpno i do detalja bavi abortusima - kako fizički (govori o fetusima, infekcijama, smrtima, odlivima i svemu što može da vam padne na pamet), tako i duhovno (koliko je sam taj čin opravdan i da li ga treba podržati). Ono što je pisac zaista uspeo da prenese jesu raličiti i prilično uverljivi stavovi o abortusima u vreme kada oni nisu bili legalni. Neki od tih ljudi bili su prilično modernih shvatanja i postavljali su pitanja u rangu sa sadašnjim razmišljanjima.

Doktor Larč mi je bio najdraži lik i čitava radnja u njegovom sirotištu mi je najviše držala pažnju. Ostale priče, berbe jabuka na plantaži, su mi bile manje primamljive i što je više likova ulazilo u priču to mi je nekako celina sa početka gubila početnu draž. Ne mogu da navedem konkretne situacije koje mi se nisu dopale, a da ne otkrivam radnju romana. Sve u svemu, bilo je postupaka likova koji su mi bili neshvatljivi, a oko nekih stvari se dizala velika prašina da bi na kraju prošle potpuno zanemareno. Sa tim u vezi, rešenje za sam kraj romana mi se nije dopalo.

Što se atmosfere tiče, ona jeste sivkasta, otegnuta i blatnjava, ali izuzetno verodostojna. Stvari su na papir prenesene toliko realno i neprenaglašeno da sve vreme imate osećaj kao da čitate događaje pisane po istinitoj priči.

Sve u svemu, imam želju da nastavim da čitam Irvinga, a moja očekivanje do romana Svet po Garpu su velika.

A little slow getting started for me, but you can't help loving Homer Wells and the story of his life as an orphan.

The book gives very descriptive details of abortion procedures and the fetus and contains numerous controversial subject matters.

Bottom line for me, however, is that I would like to see the movie about "Saint" Wilbur Larch, Abortionist and Obstetrician who gives his entire life of 90+ years to helping those in need and finding homes for his beloved orphans despite his addiction to ether.

Fortunately all readers all the time do not like the same book. (Just finished a book of the bestsellers the past century and publishers do not favor that opinion.) Tastes and opinions differ which, of course, is a good thing.

There are a handful of books though which I simply love because of the way the author uses the English language and/or the story itself and how it unfolds. Other times there's just that "indescribable something" which makes me love a book. This book which made the bestseller list in 1985, has all those reasons and some of which are simply undefinable to me.

There are many social issues John Irving bravely writes about in a way to allow us, his readers, discuss how we feel about the world around us.

At times Cider House Rules spells those issues out like a big slap in the face. Issues which allow readers to discuss openly the rights and/or wrongs in living our lives. Societal issues are brought to the forefront as they reflect the happenings within these families: issues such as race, incest, sexual orientation, adoption and abortion during the period when it was completely illegal;* and when many women performed self abortions with wire hangers and numerous other dangerous methods. These issues surely included how they were affected by the "haves" and the "have nots." There are rules to live by but not all the rules are for all the same people.

*NOTE: (In my opinion, it's almost illegal now with the number of U. S. state legislatures making laws which prohibit the safe legal procedure so unattainable that it is gradually becoming more and more difficult (especially for the poorest of our society) to obtain the lawful procedure of abortion.)

I determined many years ago that women, as difficult a decision as it is, will self abort a fetus or have an abortion safely according to the law. And unfortunately men the majority of whom make these laws, are not the ones which are mostly affected by the laws; i.e. the majority of men do not raise children from birth to adulthood.

If I made a list (I'm into lists these days) of the top 10 books I love and admire, this book would be one of the 10.

John Irving is a courageous man to bring together so many social problems in America and leave our citizens (through our lawmakers) to make those difficult decisions.

After reading this book which took about four days, I thought of the issues brought up by John Irving and his character Homer Wells for days on end.

And thought about what to say here for days on end. It's taken three months and I still think about this book. It had a deep and lasting effect on me, one which will be with me for years to come.

My only regret is I didn't read it in 1985.

3.5/5