Cider House Rules; To the Lighthouse (and a little Little Dorrit)

I’m not sure I have any particularly interesting or insightful observations about The Cider House Rules. I certainly enjoyed the book. Dr. Larch was easily my favorite character, followed by Nurse Caroline. Candy bugged me more than anything. I enjoyed the first half more than the latter half, but I was pleased with the ending. The role of Dr. Larch’s historical records throughout the story is both amusing and poignant, and set the stage nicely for the ending.

From a craft perspective, I was struck by the way Irving moved from different perspectives/narrators within the same passage. On the one hand, that would seem to serve to make the authorial perspective seem particularly omniscient. On the other hand, I think it actually accentuates the importance of narrative and story-telling, which is one of the central themes of the novel (particularly the way the stories we tell and the stories we believe shape who we are and how we understanding others).

The book did make me wish that I had kept a graph of the connections between the books on the list with a node connecting ones that reference each other. It would make an interesting representation of the links between works of literature. It would also need to be huge, and I likely will not attempt to start one now. Still, would be an interesting project.

After wrapping that one up, I read To the Lighthouse. Confession time: I am not a fan of Virginia Woolfe. She just really does nothing for me. I found the ways she drifted from one perspective to another to be powerful and to pull out both the differences and commonalities among the various psyches and voices she explored. There were certain passages that caught me (I don’t think of myself as someone who reads for the language, per se, but I am increasingly finding that when I love a book, it is because of various passage within it that just resonate with me and make me see humanity or the world or myself in a new way, that complicate or eliminate, uplift or sadden). Not a favorite, but glad I read it.

My fear of Dickens had become paralyzing, so I decided I needed to leap into Little Dorrit today. I’m well past page 100 today, and I am amazed by how engaging I am finding it. I can see why he is so popular and seen as an enjoyable author, not just an important one. His love for humanity and his humor certainly come through (I think you have to embrace the satirical edge). It’s my fourth Dickens, and the one I have enjoyed the most so far. We’ll see if it keeps up, since it is over 850 pages, which is long even for something that is fun.