A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989)

Owen Meanie is a little boy who was small his whole life... very small. He may have been small in stature, but had a larger than life personality. He had an equally strong faith in God and truly believed that God had a plan for him and that he was meant to do something great. His parents were awful. Not necessarily mean, but certainly neglectful. He was fortunate to not only have his best friend, but his best friend's mother who loved him like her own. Regardless of the doubt displayed by those who should have known better, Owen fulfilled his destiny but at a great price. ( )

The diminutive (in size, but certainly not in heart) Owen Meany is the subject of this book, narrated by his best friend Johnny Wheelwright. Owen believes himself to be God’s instrument, and that he has a very specific purpose on earth. As an older John (in the late 80s) tells the story of his and Owen’s childhoods and adolescence in the 50s and 60s, the story takes several threads and brings them neatly together at the climax.

I wanted to read this, because I have read and enjoyed John Irving in the past. However, I always find him to be a writer I can appreciate rather than always enjoy, and this book was no different. The story started slowly and I wasn’t sure whether I would like it or not, as Johnny describes himself and Owen in their younger days, and how Owen accidentally kills Johnny’s mother with a baseball, as well as Johnny’s interest in the identity of his unknown father. However, as the narrative progresses and the boys become young men with the shadow of the Vietnam War hanging over them, it picked up pace and I started to be drawn in.

As a narrator, Johnny is something of an enigma – I never felt that he was really fully fleshed out, but that actually worked, as it made Owen the true focus of the story, as he should be. Owen was an extremely interesting character – highly intelligent, shades of arrogance, and not always likeable. He rubbed people up the wrong way, some people were even frightened of him (not least Owen’s own parents), but it was clear that he always felt he had a mission to complete that was more important than himself. A few times I wondered about the significance of certain plot points – exactly why was Owen so determined to master a tricky basketball shot? – but this made the ending so much more satisfactory as events are brought into sharp relief, and everything clicks.

Some parts are genuinely moving, and other parts are extremely funny – the nativity scene with the four feet tall Owen playing a swaddled baby Jesus, had me laughing all the way through.

Overall, I am very glad I read this book. It was not always easy going, but I felt that it paid dividends to readers who kept with it, and I imagine it will be a story that I will remember for a long time – particularly the wonderful ending. ( )

Read this book years ago. Listening to it on audio was a great experience. Reader did a wonderful job taking me right into the story. I had forgotten what a moving book this was. Recommended to my parents to download. ( )

John Irving will always be my first literary crush, thanks to my high school boyfriend's father. Owen Meany is the first character that I wept over and while I've read most of Irving's oeuvre (and love almost all of it), only the Cider House Rules comes anywhere close to breaking my heart the way this prayer broke it. And continues to each time I read it. Nothing better than a book that explores the conflicting themes of religion and spirituality. Read this book! ( )

If this book seems slow at first, take heart. The pace and extensive foreshadowing throughout most of the novel is an absolutely crucial plot device for the reader to truly understand the last three pages, when the entire thing comes together with a bang. It took me a really long time to finish this book because it seemed to start really slowly and I was only reading it sporadically at night when I had insomnia. It seemed to be just a description of the lives main character [John Wheelwright] and his best friend, Owen Meany, until the tragic baseball accident which takes the life of John's mother. Nevertheless, this book started to pick up steam as the boys grow older and the shadow of the Vietnam War begins to touch their lives in more tangible ways. Although its pretty obvious from the beginning that Owen has some kind of special relationship with God, this fact doesn't start to have significance around the middle of the book, when the boys are growing older and they have to make choices about their lives. This is without a doubt a book about faith, both of Owen's rock solid faith and John's struggles to believe in God in the face of many seemingly inexplicable tragedies and hardships. Nevertheless, as John states in the beginning, he is a Christian because of Owen Meany.

The ending was beautiful. Its been a long time since a book made me cry. Bravo. ( )