Matthew Bauersfeld’s Reviews > The Cider House Rules > Status Update

Writing about the previous 200 pages, not this one:
Irving has a tendency to take an author or two and focus on them. In A Prayer for Owen Meany, it was Thomas Hardy and the wit of his narration; here, it is Dickens and Brontë, though the former gets more credit on account of his "Dickensian" "description" and "wit." I am certain Irving himself fancies he has a knack for descriptions and witticisms (he does).

I keep staying up too late

It is a weird feeling to be put in such a small small world but Irving does an eloquent job of it.

The pony and Mrs. Eames's daughter is bile in my throat.

He seems to assume the soundness of his logic and jumps right to challenging what someone who agrees - in theory - can handle

Paints like Steinbeck, but is remorseless in his depiction of Shame.