Reviews tagging 'Incest'

The Cider House Rules by John Irving

11 reviews

melissa_cosgrove's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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pained_creations's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Wonderfully quirky and sometimes funny story of an orphan's life. Deals with adult/difficult topics, and yet finds a way to make it lighter-hearted.
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zzelda's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Oof. He’s done it again. A masterpiece. Took me about half the book to get into but I knew it would be worth it. Every American should read this book
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epounders13's review

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emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Coming of age book within a moral crossroads. 
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haleyshort's review

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funny hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

God I love this book. Every character has such depth and is so flawed but wants to do what’s right and there’s so much love in so many different forms and I just find it so compelling and joyful and interesting and sad. I know that it isn’t perfect, John Irving is a white dude from New England who writes about white dudes from New England, but it feels like home to me. Found family, found homes, and found selves abound.
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vagrantheather's review against another edition

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challenging funny informative reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A story that spans 3 generations in rural Maine. A story of terrible things told with an edge of hilarious absurdity. A treatise on the necessity of abortion access, no matter your thoughts of personhood or souls. Irving manages to take some very dark themes and topics and weave them into a compelling story that doesn't feel at all preachy. I laughed out loud an embarrassing number of times. I will absolutely be reading further Irving, and would recommend him for anyone who's fond of Vonnegut.
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m1923's review

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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adrionmacaron's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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library_dreamer's review against another edition

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4.0

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vistacanas's review

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challenging dark sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Those who plead for the lives of the unborn should consider the lives of the living.

I remember loving the Cider House Rules movie, but don't remember it being like what I just read. Let's just say this book is not for the Karens of the world. 😄 Abortion, prostitution, bestiality, incest, domestic violence...this book will offend and/or trigger pretty much anyone whose mind isn't pretty wide open.

Fortunately, mine is so I truly enjoyed it. John Irving is an amazing WRITER (as opposed to just an author). He pulls you in and takes you on quite the wild ride.

His character development is top tier. Every one of the characters comes to life—I could see, hear and feel them with little effort. Being that the story is primarily character driven, I especially appreciated this aspect of his writing.

Having read this on my Kindle, I didn't realize how long it was until I started it. If you're not a speed reader, it will take you some time to read at 963 pages. I fought it a bit at first, but then settled into to a place where I savored it.

Looking forward to watching the (award winning) movie again...now I'm intrigued as to how they handled all of the super edgy content.
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