MovieChat Forums > The Cider House Rules (2000) Discussion > Read the book!!

Read the book!!

posted 17 years ago by pitchrollyaw
5 replies | jump to latest

"Cider House" is a wonderful work of American literature--destined to go down in history. Many judge this work based solely on the movie. If you're one of them, you're wasting your time and intelligence. Michael Caine is precisely how I imagined Dr. Larch, and I'm thrilled he won Best Supporting Actor for the role.

To set some curiosity aside, Dr. Larch IS an ether addict.

He (Dr. Larch, a real M.D.,) wants to help women-he supports their right to choose, albeit there wasn't a right to "choose" in 1943. He knew there'd be consequences if he didn't provide those services--women would go off and resort to back-alley abortions, become septic and die. (Like the young girl found by the incinerator-she resorted to a common butcher, who said he was a doctor, because no real M.D.'s like Dr. Larch were known of or were forbidden by law to perform abortions and therefore, would have to suffer the consequences if caught.)

Homer knocked Candy up while Wally was away and went to St. Clouds to have the baby. (Not mentioned in the movie.)

Read the book....Michael Caine's portrayal is amazing, it truly is, but the novel itself is stupendous.

[–] SamanthaWho88 17 years ago

The book is so much better than the film (although the film is fantastic)

*I saw in your eyes that you hate the world, I hate it too...*

[–] krkelly 17 years ago

Yes, the book is good. I've been a fan of John Irving since *The World According to Garp* ... he has a lot of heart and a great, ironic sense of humor.

For anyone interested, the script is floating around on the net. It's a pretty good read.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] fi3r 17 years ago

I'm glad they excluded the 'Homer Knocked up Candy' bit from the film -- it would have ruined the story (for the film, I'm not judging the book because I haven't read it).

[–] hppg 17 years ago

I read the book shortly after I saw the film (both a long time ago) and I liked both. The book was so much longer and had so much more but was still really enjoyable. I think the adaptation was great though they worked out what to cut etc. to make it into a good film.