This may be my favorite John Irving novel. . .I'll have to see how it sits over time with "Prayer for Owen Meany." I've had this book set aside on my reading list as a treat and I wasn't disappointed. I'm a fan of Irving, but am most taken with his mid-career efforts. I have no further interest in reading about bears (they run rampant through his earliest works) and while I've enjoyed his later novels, they haven't caught me the way Garp and Owen Meany did.

Cider House, however, is almost perfect. The characters were fascinating, flawed individuals - each well developed and compelling; the setting was beautiful (unlike other reviewers, I was hooked from the first page) and the plot beautifully structured. John Irving stories are never straight forward and always somewhat outlandish, but the author was neither disrespectful nor manipulative of his readers (and the affection we develop for his characters). Rather, we were well rewarded.

This is also an "issues" book about abortion, and I think Irving handled this tactfully and tastefully (although don't for a moment think that medical details, including the consequences of coat-hanger aboritions, aren't fully detailed). Well done and a good service. Now, do I dare see the movie?