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Loading... A Prayer for Owen Meany (original 1989; edition 1990)by John Irving
Work detailsA Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (1989)
The concluding theology is rather odd, but I love the story. Irving is a wonderful narrator. (  ) Snukes | Jun 14, 2013 |  I have not read a John Irving book since The Hotel New Hampshire and was a little put off by what I perceived as a self-conscious quirkiness in his writing, so I’ve avoided this book about a five-foot tall, screechy voiced prophet for over 20 years. I suppose I’ve become more tolerant of quirkiness, because Owen Meany is all of that, but it is a story well told and is almost worthy of its Dickensian aspirations. We learn at the outset of the book that the narrator, John Wheelwright, has become a Christian believer thanks to his little friend Owen Meany. Owen puzzles us through hundreds of pages – why is he obsessed with dunking basketballs? – but all the odd details come together in a slam-bang ending that is fair and satisfying to the reader that has persevered. Irving is not a subtle writer but he is an effective one, and I fell for his tricks if not for his philosophizing. I wonder how this work affects people who believe in God. As an atheist, I had to struggle with suspension of disbelief, whereas I assume that people of faith would experience this novel as a confirmation of their belief. (  ) CasualFriday | Jun 8, 2013 | I am a huge John Irving fan and this is my favorite John Irving book. Whenever I think about a wish list of books in audio, this one comes up. ( ) jmoncton | Jun 3, 2013 | I read this for class - grudgingly - and was pleasantly surprised. I really had to rush through it, and that's not at all how this one is meant to be read, despite the ease with which you get wrapped up in it. This one is definitely on my reread shelf. (  ) frozenplums | May 3, 2013 | I zoomed through this, whenever I was willing to pick it up at all, because I just didn’t like it and didn’t want to have to spend too much time reading it. I should like it. I have many friends who’ve given it 5 and 4 stars, much of it takes place in “my era” and I feel as though I should like Irving’s work, all of it. But this is just too weird for me. And I really couldn’t stand all the content about religion and faith and the way it was addressed I found incredibly irritating. Very peculiar story! I couldn’t even care about the characters. Everything was connected and wrapped up neatly so I can admire that skillfulness but since I didn’t enjoy the story, I can’t muster that much admiration. I’ll have to give it another chance sometime. The only reason I persisted and kept reading is that this book is the book for my next real world book club meeting. I’ll bet they’ll all love it. What’s wrong with me?! I guess this one just isn’t my cup of tea. Irving is often too strange for me actually, although I did like Garp and loved The Cider House Rules movie. I didn’t like this at all though. I will be interested in our book club discussion because I suspect I’ll be alone with that opinion. Oh gosh. I didn’t record my reading start date and I have no idea when it was, but I know I started it over a month ago. (  )1  Lisa2013 | Apr 17, 2013 |
 "Owen Meany" is as sappy as a book can get without having a title like "Coddled By The Light" or "Sauntering Towards the Light" or "Picking Posies in the Fields of the Light," but it's never nauseating or treacly or overly wholesome. It's a nice good fun read, like a quiet vacation. Irving isn't wrangling us with extremes, here -- he gives us a break. You've been beat up enough, he says. I'll do the work for you this time. The result is merciful, healthy, warm and gladdening.  The characters capable of representing such scepticism don't look good on paper, while the book puts all its efforts into promoting a belief in belief. But a belief in belief is something this book lams into elsewhere: the Americans' propensity for decisiveness in the absence of policy. On the green award of the Gravesend Academy, it may seem innocent enough; in the jungles and deserts of international trouble spots, it looks fatally naive. Despite its theological proppings, A Prayer for Owen Meany is a fable of political predestination. As usual, Irving delivers a boisterous cast, a spirited story line and a quality of prose that is frequently underestimated, even by his admirers. Mr. Irving shows considerable skill as scene after scene mounts to its moving climax. But the thinking behind it all seems juvenile, preppy, is much too pleased with itself. There is something appropriate in the fact that so much of the book takes place in and around a New England academy. The heavily emphasized ''religious'' symbols at the center of the book - the contrast to American aggressiveness offered by the clawlessness of the armadillo, the armlessness of the Indian founder of the town, even John Wheelwright's imbecile joy at being mutilated as still another symbol of his sacrifice of sex to right thinking - all this reminds this long-tried teacher of all the ''Christ symbols'' his students find in everything and anything they have to read. Diminutive Owen Meany, believing himself to be God's instrument, unlocks life's mysteries for his closest friend in this imaginative mix of humor and tragedy. From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
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The book's mystic religiosity is steeped in Robertson Davies's Deptford trilogy, and the fatal baseball relates to the fatefully misdirected snowball in the first Deptford novel, Fifth Business. Tiny, symbolic Owen echoes the hero of Irving's teacher Günter Grass's The Tin Drum--the two characters share the same initials. A rollicking entertainment, Owen Meany is also a meditation on literature, history, and God. --Tim Appelo
(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 03 Jan 2013 07:28:41 -0500)
In the summer of 1953, two 11-year-old boys--best friends--are playing in a Little League baseball game in New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills his best friend's mother. Owen Meany believes he didn't hit the ball by accident. He believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after 1953 is extraordinary and terrifying. He is Irving's most heartbreaking hero.… (more)
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