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Loading... Bidden wij voor Owen Meany (original 1989; edition 1989)by John Irving
Work InformationA Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (1989)
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This book explores the friendship between Owen Meaney and the narrator, John Wheelwright during the years after WWII into the Vietnam era. After Own accidentally kills John's mother, he believes he is God's instrument. His fate is unavoidable and he learns to accept it. He's always been in God's hands. The book deals with themes that permeate adult life after a certain age- faith, doubt, purpose, disillusionment, loss, and grief. ( ) Not Irving's quirkiest novel, but his most amusing. You will never forget the Christmas pageant scene. Owen is an unforgetable character who speaks in a voice impaired by some sort of early damage to his larnyx. The reader is reminded of this each time he speaks, since his words are placed in capitals throughout the text. “LAST NITE I HAD A DREAM. NOW I KNOW FOUR THINGS. I KNOW THAT MY VOICE DOESN’T CHANGE – BUT I STILL DON’T KNOW WHY. I KNOW THAT I AM GOD’S INSTRUMENT. I KNOW WHEN I’M GOING TO DIE – AND NOW A DREAM HAS SHOWN ME HOW I’M GOING TO DIE. I’M GOING TO BE A HERO! I TRUST THAT GOD WILL HELP ME, BECAUSE WHAT I’M SUPPOSED TO DO LOOKS VERY HARD.” I think I could have enjoyed this book but the author chose to put all of "Owen's" words in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS and it is REALLY ANNOYING TO TRY AND READ A BOOK WITH FREQUENT CAPITALIZATION. I understand why he chose this technique but I think it was unnecessary and ultimately unsatisfying. I gave up on it pretty early on. This is the ninth book I've read by Irving. It opened a whole side of him which has long been there but this was my first encounter with it. I should have known that a book whose title begins with "A prayer" would have a lot to do with religion, faith and doubt. I was prepared for the usual Irving trappings, New England, New Hampshire, boarding schools, small person, disfigurement, missing limbs, amputation, sex, death, sports, coming of age, missing fathers, single parents, Germans, protests, acting out, literature, actors, professors, teachers, abortions, grandparents etc. What was missing Iowa and wrestling. The two central characters are lifelong friends. One, Owen Meany, is extremely short and always screaming, he has no other voice. A unique feature of this book is every word Owen utters is written in all capital letters or as they called it, MONUMENT CASE. This was appropriate as Owen's family owned a granite business which produced monuments for Cemetaries. The friendship is challenged when Owen is pitch hitting in a losing little league game where the coach wants to get it over with and tells Owen for the first time ever to swing away. Owen eventually does and hits a line drive foul just outside the third base line only to hit John's mother's in the head instantly killing her. John's mother is one of the few people who loved Owen. Owen is beside himself with remorse. This is where we begin to see religion enter the story. Owen is convinced he's God's instrument but this tragic event makes him question his faith. John on the other hand just considers this a tragic accident and he, like everyone else, doubt that God has a special purpose for Owen. Owen says that God speaks to him in visions while he sleeps and this is how he knows what he does is God's will. John pushes back telling Owen these are probably dreams or nightmares. At one point Owen tells John he is going to die a hero saving children and even knows exactly when he's going to die, but will not tell John what the date is. Unbeknownst to John Owen actually discusses these visions with the local ministers and even a priest. While Owen has a heart of gold he has little tolerance for authorities especially those who claim to speak for God. While both a stand out student and being extremely powerful for such a small person, due to his working in his father's granite business, Owen is continually getting in trouble, especially for speaking out. Because he knows he will die a hero he volunteers to go to Vietnam but because of his size and his experience in the mortuary business the Army has other plans for him and assigns has him to stay stateside and console the families of soldiers that did not come home alive. It may seem like I'm giving away the plot. I felt there was no need to say spoiler alert when discussing a book that was published twenty years ago. Let me assure you there are many subplots which I have not even touched upon, such as how Owen helps John's search for his real father, how John learns faith, how girls react to Owen, what slam ducking in under three seconds has anything to do with all this, what John does with life after Owen, what do boarding schools have to do with this, how do cousins enter the picture, who is Hester the Molester, how do the wars and events of the sixties, seventies and eighties impact everyone, and then there's more to John's mother than just a pretty face, etc. Read the book to fill in those stories. Irving knows his bible. The book is laced with quotations often with book and verse and debated rather than just quoted. There's a tension between various forms of Christianity such as Protestant sects and the Catholic church. The role of ministers and priests is explored, especially how they live and interact with their congregations. How kids experience a nativity play is revisited several times. Perhaps the most important religious theme is the exploration of faith and doubt. Irving wrestles with this and in many ways it's central to the entire book. On the more academic side, this book is an homage to Gunter Grass' The Tin Drum. I've yet to read The Tin Drum but have heard about it for fifty years and it's now next on my reading list. There are some parallels that quickly jump to mind. A very short central character who constantly screams, it's his only voice. A society indelibly marked by failed wars, Germany in WWII and the U.S. in Vietnam, especially failed political leadership. More subtle are the initials of the main character, O.M. for Oskar Morgenstern. I'm sure this list will grow longer once I actually read The Tin Drum. And then there's the movie. At first I was under the impression that this was never made in to a movie. That made sense to me as I could see how difficult it would be to turn in to a movie. After checking Wikipedia I learned that it had been made into a movie only its title is Simon Burch. Turns out that Irving insisted they change the title and all the character names, even the name of town. I can see why he wanted to disassociate his work from the much inferior movie. Yes movies usually leave out a lot of the book. In this case that included, screaming, boarding school, all anti-war material, the marriage, changed who John's real father is, how he learned about him, and what he did after learning the truth. The movie comes across as smarmy. The book does not. The movie does have some interesting casting including Ashley Judd, Oliver Platt, David Strathairn, and even Jim Carey as the adult version of John. Pass on the movie, stick with the book.
"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. 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. John Irving’s A Prayer For Owen Meany is yet another Irving book that absolutely held my attention, and had me racing to finish it. Irving, perhaps because of his own dyslexia, takes pains to write clearly and readably. He avoids labyrinthine construction. He earns his right to describe things by keeping the action moving. Belongs to Publisher SeriesAndanzas (100) detebe (22491) Keltainen kirjasto (231) Keltainen pokkari (59) Has the adaptationIs abridged inHas as a student's study guideAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
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. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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