Queen Esther by John Irving review – a disappointing companion to The Cider House Rules

<p>The once-great author revisits St Cloud’s orphanage all too briefly, in a novel that begins with an adopted girl but wanders all over the place</p><p>If some writers have an imperial phase, where they hit the heights time after time, then American novelist John Irving’s ran through a series of four fat, satisfying novels, from his 1978 breakthrough The World According to Garp to 1989’s A Prayer for Owen Meany. Those were generous, funny, big-hearted books, tying characters he calls “outliers” to social issues from feminism to abortion.</p><p>Since Owen Meany, it’s been diminishing returns, except in page length. His last novel, 2022’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/oct/19/the-last-chairlift-by-john-irving-review-an-outlandish-family-epic">The Last Chairlift</a>, was 900 pages of subjects Irving had explored better in earlier books (mutism, dwarfism, transgenderism), with a 200-page screenplay in the middle to pad it out – as if padding were needed.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/nov/03/queen-esther-by-john-irving-review-a-disappointing-companion-to-the-cider-house-rules">Continue reading...</a>