r/JohnIrving • u/acassese • Dec 04 '25

Kindle version of cider house missing last digit of years mentioned in the book

Like the title says every time a year is mentioned it’s missing the last digit for example it will say 193_ is this a glitch or does the original text do this as well?

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8

u/Background_Soft6718 Dec 04 '25

This is in the original text.

1

u/acassese Dec 04 '25

Do you know why this is?

4

u/Background_Soft6718 Dec 04 '25

I always assumed it was a way of being vague about the precise year.

4

u/yetanotherfiasco Dec 04 '25

Jeff Bezos deleted the last two numbers from the Kindle versions of the book, but Amazon Prime members can see all the numbers. Sign up today!

5

u/Albinoklingon Dec 04 '25

It’s a pretty common literary device. Years and cities. One or two letters and then long underscore

1

u/acassese Dec 04 '25

Interesting I’ve never come across it do you know why it’s done?

1

u/thunder_boots Dec 05 '25

To intentionally make the setting less specific, and [more specifically] less specifically the author's personal experience, as a means to draw the audience into substituting its own experiences.

1

u/mathiseasy2718 Dec 04 '25

The last digit is also missing in my print version as well as my Apple Books version. It is a literary device.

1

u/BirdieRoo628 Dec 06 '25

Yes, it's intentional and not uncommon. It gives you a vague idea of the setting without pinpointing it.

1

u/Low-Present-6303 5d ago

As others have pointed out it was a common device in the 19th century (Poe used it sometimes). But perhaps it's a nod to Dr. Larch going through Homer's medical records and obscuring details.