First of all, John Irving has a gift when it comes to character development: he consistently describes interesting, different, strange, very original people: and he does this in such a subtle and sensitive way, that after finishing each of his books, you have the feeling you know each and every character very well. This is one of the good points of the cider house rules: Homer Wells, Melony, Dr Larch are all unique and interesting chararters...but after having read other John Irving books, the reader has come to expect characters like these, so it doesn't come so much as a surprise.
