The Cider House Rules (John Irving) ... I’m close to finished with the novel and I don’t’ want it to end. It is VERY different from the movie (scripted from the book). For the first time in many a book, I saw the movie after starting to read the novel, and I was immediately struck by the differences. Okay, it’s a long book, as Mr. Irving’s books are wont to be, but it is magnificent social commentary on abortion, orphanages/orphans, both race and class relations. It is ultimately a didactic book, and the lessons it teaches are profound. No matter which side of the abortion argument you may reside, this book deals with both sides brilliantly.
A more detailed review in the upcoming weeks. I’m enjoying the read way too much to speed the trip. If you happen to watch the movie first (most probably have), know that there is a ton left out and changed for the expediency of film. Trust me on this … read the book.
Here’s a passage I made a point of marking in my kindle (how I wish I’d ordered the paperback). Dr. Larch writing to Franklin Roosevelt: “I thought that freedom of choice was obviously democratic—was obviously American!” he types feverishly. “Is it a democratic society that condemns people to the accident of conception? What are we—monkeys? … Couples who are well-to-do usually want their babies,” he writes in a letter to President Roosevelt. “BUT WHAT ABOUT THE POOR? Forty-two percent of the babies born to parents living in poverty are unwanted.”
Larch goes on to comment on the hypocrisy of those who condemn abortions on the one hand, then refuse aid to orphans (i.e., welfare) after they’re born (usually into poverty). The polar moral standards in those kinds of social mores would leave Jesus (if you need to believe) weeping.
Anyway, it’s a fascinating read. This is the fourth or fifth Irving novel I’ve read this year … obviously it won’t be the last.
Stay tuned for more on this brilliant novel.
Watch the movie ... but read the book …
Get it here:
Game 5 tonight … we’ll, they say the King rebounded from the 12 goals in 2 games shellacking the Lightning dealt him, and he may well have rebounded, but let’s face it, the hockey Gods were looking down on him and his teammates in the first and second periods, where a few of our shots rang off the post and were thrown high over an open net. Not to mention a shot “headed for Miami” (Mike Milbury’s words, not mine) that kicked off a defender's skate and wound up in the net against the Bolts … or the “tap it in” rebounds the Strangers had. So it goes … the favored Strangers are cocky again. The cheap shot by Kevin Hayes on Tyler Johnson (hitting him in the ribs with a stick) should’ve earned him a suspension, but maybe another freight train hit by Stamkos on Hayes is what he really needs (when Hayes was left staring into space in game 3 after Stamkos made him a hood ornament).
TK says, LET’S GO BOLTS!
Brady, Hillary and Bill O’Reilly … vs. COMMON SENSE ... NBC sent Brian Williams packing for his tall tale about taking RPG fire while on a helicopter in the Middle East … but our great land of the pathetically uninformed is going to allow a woman with a much worse reputation (regarding lies) run for President (again), despite her tall tale about taking “sniper fire” in Bosnia.
And over at FOX “News” (really?), Bill O’Reilly, who has already settled a sexual harassment case out of court (to keep his reputation from being further soiled), is going to use the same tactic as Hillary and Tom Brady (of the New England Asterisks), which is to attack the accusers, hold back ALL AND ANY INFORMATION (whether refusing to turn them over {Brady}, or destroying the server they were on {Hillary}, or just accusing the attackers, including his own daughter who claims she witnessed Big Bill (O’Reilly) engage in wife beating and dragging his wife by her neck down a flight of stairs).
No matter what common sense suggests in all three of the above incidents, nothing will stop any of the three from moving on with nothing more than a blip in their screen of life. Why that happens speaks more to a country that has grown accustomed (and comfortable) trying to survive the day-to-day battle most Americans find themselves in--the one that involves surviving at all costs (including the cost of being informed). The Oligarchs are winning, amici … it’s time to chug-a-lug some espresso and wake the fuck up.
BERNIE IN 2016!
"It always seems impossible until it's done." -- Nelson Mendela
Your cheatin' heart
Will make you weep
You'll cry and cry
And try to sleep
But sleep won't come
The whole night through
Your cheatin' heart will tell on you...
When tears come down
Like falling rain
You'll toss around
And call my name
You'll walk the floor
The way I do
Your cheatin' heart will tell on you...
Your cheatin' heart
Will pine some day
And crave the love
You threw away
The time will come
When you'll be blue
Your cheatin' heart will tell on you...
When tears come down
Like falling rain
You'll toss around
And call my name
You'll walk the floor
The way I do
Your cheatin' heart will tell on you...
