n  “I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice. Not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God.”n

I've opted for the 3-star approach, but you shouldn't give it much weight where this book is concerned. Some people are really hung up on ratings - does it really only deserve 1 star? you seemed to like it, why not 5 stars? - when in truth, this book is so complex, smart, multilayered and slow as fuck that it's impossible to rate.

A Prayer for Owen Meany is a strange and interesting book about faith and doubt, with Owen himself representing an embodiment of the relationship between the natural and supernatural - everything from his physical description to the events of his life seem halfway between this world and the next.

This is my first Irving book. I don't know if that's a mistake or not - I probably will check out his other work but I'll definitely save it for a time when I'm ready for a slow plot. In A Prayer for Owen Meany, the narrator is John Wheelwright but he fades into the background, offering a perspective that at times feels like third-person.

John details the lives and habits of the characters surrounding him - most notably, of course, Owen Meany - making it a book about them and not himself. In fact, it seems like the author deliberately kept the novel's focus off of its narrator (who is perhaps a stand-in for himself?).

As I said, the story moves slowly and sometimes has a rambling quality, going on and on in exhaustive detail, exploring every aspect of a scene so that we get a lot of character and thematic depth (and also, it must be said, a bit of a headache). But it's hard to deny that Irving has a way with words and storytelling, working up to an important moment gradually and effectively, even if with a painful slowness.

The story spans many years and sometimes jumps a lot of time within a single page, before coming back again. As with many non-linear narratives, it offers a different and fascinating approach, while not being without confusion. It runs alongside many important events in American history (Kennedy's assassination, for example), which allows John to express his disdain for the Reagan administration, as well as his general anger toward America.

I'm not exaggerating when I say it's strange - John's account of his and Owen's childhood is odd to begin with, but the novel becomes increasingly nuts towards the end. I can't say I fully enjoyed it, but I thought the themes were interesting and incorporated well. John's running criticisms of America and American life manifest in ways big and small - the "big" being assassinations and the Vietnam War, the "small" being such as his mother's death by a baseball, an important American symbol.

It's not the kind of book you read for enjoyment (or I personally don't think so, but then I never fully got that guy in college who refused to go to any social events because he wanted to read Marcel Proust), but it is the kind you save for when you want a clever, thoughtful read with many layers and themes to uncover. I am glad I finally read it.

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I could not possibly hate a book more.

I hate John Irving's need to insert himself into books as the primary character. That's not good writing, that's being a pompous ass. On top of that, writing Owen in all caps gave me this feeling he was screaming at me the entire book, which stylistically was a terrible choice; it served to make me hate the main character instead of sympathize with him.

There is nothing about Owen that I liked. Not his obnoxious voice, not his total lack of personality except to be the harbinger of some catastrophe (that was stupid in the end, I might add), not his abusive relationship with Hester, none of it.

I read this in high school and have attempted to reread it twice since, along with a few of Irving's other books, and I can honestly say that I would rather read Twilight than have to read this tripe. Like Moby Dick, I cannot understand how this book became a classic, unless you like people who aren't religious finding religion because a kid who entered the army was right that he would die young.

I read this a very, very long time ago. I only remember bits and pieces, however I remember that I loved it and that the ending was fabulous.

I gave this book three stars because I figure that's the average of five stars and one star. Some of the things about this book were great; others were really terrible.

Irving's strong-point is definitely his ability to draw interesting characters in vivid--sometimes painful--detail. Owen, of course, is the central and most interesting character. He's a little runt of a boy with a bizarre voice, a sarcastic wit, an iron will, and an unwavering faith in God and in the fact that he is an instrument of God's will. In stark contrast to Owen's miraculous life stands Owen's best friend and the narrator of the story, John. We get two views of John. Most of the book consists of John narrating his childhood and telling the story of Owen Meany. The childhood John is self-conscious, indecisive, and unmotivated. The other view comes from periodic scenes of the middle-aged, mundane John who now lives in Toronto and invariably launches into long and bitter rants against the United States and its foreign policy. The reason for the rants becomes clear by the end of the book, but that doesn't make them any more enjoyable.

Many of the supporting characters are also interesting. I really liked John's grandmother, Mrs. Wheelwright, who is a sort of New England, old-money royalty. John's sexually charged and extremely rambunctious cousins are usually comical, and Reverend Louis Merrill is sort of tragically lovable.

The plot, on the other hand, is incredibly long and wandering. Though parts of the narrative are moderately gripping, often the story drags along. Irving keeps you reading not with intense plot development, but rather with an intense curiosity to find out what the big deal is about Owen Meany. While the ending is good--very good, in my opinion--Irving has built up your anticipation so much, that by the time it finally happens, it almost doesn't have a prayer (pardon the pun) of meeting your expectations.

While there are several themes in the book, the most important, in my opinion, seems to be that of faith vs. doubt. Owen's incredibly strong faith is contrasted with John's lack of faith during his childhood, and his passive, "church-rummage" faith during his adult life (which, we are told on the first page, John credits to the "miracle" of Owen Meany). The Reverend Louis Merrill also seems to be a more important character than his relatively small role would suggest, and his self-admitted personal philosophy is the paradoxical "doubt as the essence of faith." In one of the more ironic passages of the book (slight spoiler warning...), Rev. Merrill's doubt is finally dispelled not through the miraculous events surrounding Owen Meany, but through a very mundane and spiteful prank.

The problem is that none of the book's myriad of themes and symbols was particularly interesting to me. The central theme discussed above seems to hold such potential, but in the end I didn't feel any more enlightened than I started. Often with books I find myself identifying with one particular character. That didn't happen with this book, and I think that impeded my ability to glean insight from the story.

Overall, I'm glad I read it. I'd be interested to hear what other's have to say about it.

To begin the year, I tackled one of John Irving’s classic novels that found me laughing throughout, while also extracting some of the serious themes. Owen Meany is a small child, much tinier than those his age. With this, he has the most grating voice one could imagine. Some attribute this to the family granite company, while others prefer to keep the mystery alive. Owen is unlike many other children his age, as his best friend, John Wheelwright, has come to discover. One summer day in 1953, Owen hits a foul ball on the baseball field and ends up killing John’s mother. Owen attributes this as an act of God, one in which he is a vessel for the Almighty. The rest of the novel is set in a number of vignettes involving John and Owen, surrounding by a number of other characters who cross their paths throughout this complex friendship. From a number of interactions with the Wheelwright family through to stunning decisions that could significantly shape his adult life, Owen Meany finds a way to make his impact felt by all those around him, sometimes in a saviour-like manner. This storyline is contrasted nicely with the adult John Wheelwright who has left his native New Hampshire and settled in Toronto, exploring some of the goings-on in modern (1987) America. Having been a resident of Canada for over twenty years, it would seem Wheelwright is unable to accept his new home and struggles significantly with the political foibles in the US, things he superimposes his own Owen Meany perspective upon. Stunning in its delivery and slow momentum build, the story is a lot more than it seems on the surface. Recommended to those readers who love tales that take their time but leave literary breadcrumbs throughout, as well as the reader who enjoys a meandering tale full of messages.

While he has penned a number of great pieces, I have never read John Irving. Even this book was not familiar to me when placed on my reading challenge list. I was not entirely sure how I would feel about it when I read the dust jacket blurb, but I cannot say enough now. Layered between a religious undertone and preachy child who seems to know it all, the story developed in a meandering fashion, but always seemed able to push forward. I found Owen to be as annoying as ever from the opening pages, but I stuck with him and noticed that he has some redeeming moments, even though he seems too pompous and pious for his own good. His prophetic ways and odd obsession with older women—both in admiration and an odd sexual manner—leaves the reader wondering about him, yet also transfixed by his oddities. Even with John as the narrator, Owen seems almost takes centre stage and does not defer at any time. I did enjoy John’s character, as he comes of age alongside his best friend and seems never to hold animosity for the accidental death of his mother. Inseparable for most of the book, John and Owen seem to grow together and experience life through many of same experiences, though their lenses differ greatly. The flash-forwards to John’s 1987 life show that he remains committed to being Owen’s narrative protector and seems unable to divorce himself from his American roots, refusing the conform to the Canada he accepted as his new home. With strong religious ties to his Episcopalian (Anglican) upbringing, John Wheelwright sheds some of that on the reader as well. With a full cast of wonderfully diverse characters, the story moves forward and is flavoured repeatedly as things take many a tangential turn. Irving is a master at this type of colourful depiction, never losing the reader, no matter how far off the beaten path things get. The story appears to be a quilted collection of memories and vignettes, but soon finds its groove and the reader is able to see the themes that Irving embeds within the narrative. These gems slowly come to create a larger masterpiece that the patient reader is able to see for themselves by the final few pages. I am happy that I was able to last this lengthy piece, as its rewards surely outweigh the non-linear nature of the story at times.

Kudos, Mr. Irving, for a stunning piece well worthy of a five-star rating!

This book fulfils the January requirement of the Mind the Bookshelf Gap reading challenge.

This book also fulfils Topic #3: Children Matter, in the Equinox #9 reading challenge.

Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

A Prayer for Owen Meany is quite an excellent book, the story of a special boy, predestination, and a great friendship between two boys growing up together while tragedy strikes. It is well constructed, moving and full of interesting questions, both political and religious.

Owen Meany is a great character, and he is one of many interesting characters in this book. John Irving paints a beautiful picture, his writing style is really excellent, funny, eloquent and full of keen observations.

"It's a no-win argument, that business of what we're born with and what our environment does to us. And it's a boring argument, because it simplifies the mysteries that attend both our birth and our growth."

Honestly though, some of the chapters were a bit slow and long, a bit hard to get through. There is also a lot of religion in this book, a little too much for my liking. Although there are interesting thoughts about concepts like having faith and believing in predestination.

There is also a lot of political commentary, most notably about the Vietnam War. And there are discussions focused on literature and literary giants like Thomas Hardy, with that beautiful quote that so fits this story so well: "Teach me to live, that I may dread the grave as little as my bed. Teach me to die..."

But in the end it is about that one special boy, Owen Meany, and the future that he believes in more than anything and that goes on to shape his life. Another quote that fits well in this book is from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: "Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once."

Owen Meany is one of those literary characters that I will remember for a long time to come.

Update 2/21/2022 upgrade to 3.5 Stars
My brain fatigue has finally lifted. After more thought and with greater distance from Franzen's novel, I have more appreciation for Irving's themes and am able to more deeply consider the questions he is asking.

2/11/2022
I am an outlier among my GR friends. I like this book; I don't love it.

A Prayer for Owen Meany is the story of Johnny Wheelright and his best friend Owen Meany who grow up in a small New Hampshire town in the 1950's and 1960's. The story is narrated by Johnny in 1987, giving me glimpses of Johnny's current life interspersed with Owen's story, which is the bulk of the book. Owen is a singular character who believes himself to be God's instrument and sets out to fulfill the fate he has prophesied for himself.

In places Irving's writing is exceptional. Here are two passages to give you a feel for that writing:

“When someone you love dies, and you're not expecting it, you don't lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces over a long time—the way the mail stops coming, and her scent fades from the pillows and even from the clothes in her closet and drawers. Gradually, you accumulate the parts of her that are gone. Just when the day comes—when there's a particular missing part that overwhelms you with the feeling that she's gone, forever—there comes another day, and another specifically missing part.”

“Owen Meany who rarely wasted words had the conversation-stopping habit of dropping remarks like coins into a deep pool of water... remarks that sank, like truth, to the bottom of the pool where they would remain untouchable.”

The first third of this book is wonderful. I chuckle at Johnny and his cousins. I laugh at Owen and the banshee. Then there's the Christmas pageant . . . .I am totally engaged in the world Irving creates on the page. And there is one great scene later on when Owen rebels against the new Gravesend headmaster.

The Vietnam war is in the background for much of the second half of the book. During Johnny's narrations in 1987, he spends a lot of time railing against then President Reagan and the Iran Contra scandal. While the scenes do make the point that Americans don't pay attention and don't learn from their past mistakes, they are repeated too frequently and loose their effectiveness. Irving also is very heavy handed with his foreshadowing to the detriment of his story.

In this novel Irving explores fate and predestination. He also asks what is faith? Is it blind belief or the questioning of philosophy and moral behavior?

While these are big questions, I never feel pressed to really look at these issues. This novel feels superficial. And if it's aim is simply a great story, it rambles on too much to be successful for me. Maybe my lackluster reception of this book is that I just finished having my mind bent by Jonathan Franzen's latest novel or maybe I'm not the best reader for this work.

I am not sure how to even write a review of this book, I could never do it justice for sure. It's been on my radar for quite some time, and I'd decided 2023 was the year. It is an incredible story, smatterings of vulgarity and some salacious overtones aside. Every character is marvelously drawn and integral to the story. I took my time reading this, thankfully, because it is so worthy of the slower reading; in fact, after finishing I just wanted to go back and start reading it again, which doesn't happen very often at all for me. I won't start just yet, but I will reread it at some point.

Further updating books I’ve read previously but never rated...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I AM DOOMED TO REMEMBER A BOY WITH A WRECKED VOICE...

Some people have many favorite books. I know I do. They are the books that stand out above the rest and deserve their own shelf on the reader's Bookcase O' Life.

On the highest shelf, sits the book that qualifies as the mother of all books for that reader. The one that has touched the reader and imbedded itself in their psyche deeper than any other. So deep that no other book is compared to this One Book because no book can.

A Prayer for Owen Meany sits on the highest shelf of my mythical bookshelf, untouchable. I don't believe any other book will ever come close to unseating it, but I'll keep reading anyway. ;)

There are not many happenings and outer plots in any of Irvings´novels, but the language, the thoughts of the characters, and the precise working towards a final conclusion throughout the whole novel is a trademark of this unique writer I would name in a row with Dan Simmons and Stephen King, because he has this unique writing style. And while there is much more action in Kings´ works and Simmons´ is dancing at each genre wedding, Irving keeps it minimalistic and totally character based, the greater setting around, the world, nothing really matters, it are the characters he writes for and loves.

That could be a reason why some readers may find it more boring than ingenious, it strongly depends on if one likes the style, but if it´s a match, boy, those are novels never to forget again.

It´s possibly his darkest novel, dealing with death, guilt, and sacrificing in a cruel and hypocritical society, criticizing many of the evils still lurking under the dangerously thin and still very young patina of the achievements of the human and woman rights movements in Western countries, that are still omnipresent in many other societies.

Owens` strong belief in predetermination is contrasted by Johnnys´strong skepticism regarding anything supernatural and the two friends are used for many philosophical and ethical discussions and reflections that are smoothly and logically integrated into the brilliant main plot.
One must have read Irving to understand the mesmerizing effect of his writing, very few authors have the ability to create in such an inimitable way and this is definitively his grim masterpiece. Oh, and there are some innuendos and connotations about US politics of the last century too.

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...

I unfortunately picked up this book for the first time as I was leaving for a vacation at my friend's house... for her birthday and Christmas. And I couldn't put it down. I was an appalling house guest, and a worse celebrator. And I don't really regret it, because it marked a moment in time, a turning point for me. I've said this before. I've been sort of struggling with a very personal theory about what I love best in fiction. I think it has something to do with the fact that wonderful fiction (for me) highlights a moment in time when extraordinary things happen to not-necessarily extraordinary people who are forced to react in extraordinary ways. And this book is NOT about that. This book takes that theory and turns it on its head. This book is about an utterly ordinary man to whom extraordinary things give the finger, passing him over for his utterly extraordinary friend. And literally everything that could happen does. And it's about EVERYTHING. I've reread it twice more now, and I'm telling you, each time, I'm on the edge of my seat. And that's great fiction.

Read as part of The Infinite Variety Reading Challenge, based on the BBC's Big Read Poll of 2003.

Usually I don't go for apologising for my opinions on books, but I feel I'll have to in regards to this book. It mostly concerns religion. I am not agnostic and I am not atheist. Atheism denotes that, whilst there is a god or gods to be believed in, I do not believed in him or them. This is not how I feel toward gods: there are no gods. I suppose, appropriately some of you may feel, you can call me "nothing". I don't care what you believe in: that is your business and you can believe whatever you want to. I will not try to stop you and I won't ever write anything in which I deride your decision. However, I will say that I don't want to hear about religion, I don't want to talk about it and I certainly don't want to read about it.

Which is where this book comes in. Obviously religion and god are absolutely pivotal to this book and that brought up many problems with my reading it. I had to separate it in to two books in order to get through it. Of course, if it hadn't have been on the challenge list I would have given up at the first mention of Jesus, but I want to get through every book on the challenge no matter how much I dislike it. Removing the religious aspects, I could focus on the usual: punctuation, spelling, good use of verbs and all that and I found it was relatively timely. I can't say I was swept away with the writing, but it was on point and often very humorous and, whilst I can't say my attention was always kept, I did have a spark of interest throughout. Perhaps, though, it was a little too long.

It's funny, however, given my views above, that I like Owen Meany. He was a massive whinger and I don't think capitalising his words really let his voice come across properly. In my head he sounded more gruff and shouty than what he really was. Italicised capitalisation, I feel, would have portrayed it so much the better. Of course, one can't ignore what Owen Meany thought he was, but this left no bad taste in my mouth in my liking of him. I found him to be a loyal and funny person, if, yes, a little strange. He wasn't particular heroic and there wasn't any particular about him really (it's all very well being small and having a weird voice, I know all about that), but there a kind of stubborn obviousness about him that I enjoyed.

The protagonist, however, was utterly forgettable. I never felt like we really learnt much about him: he felt rather personality-less, as if often the narrator was not Johnny but an omniscient one. The various other characters I felt were very much background and were only there to perform their function and then leave the scene. I also thought that Johnny's mother's life and death were vague and I felt it was passed over quite as if it was a bit of nothing. Everything else-Johnny's hunt for his father, his hunt for what to do after school, his hunt for sex-just felt a bit "meh" on Johnny's part. I suppose, perhaps, he just didn't care as much as Owen Meany did. That's fine, but it felt like it wasn't on purpose, just something Irving had forgotten to do.

I suppose I'm trying to justify the two stars, because I know you all love justification. I won't apologise for losing stars for the religion: I don't enjoy it so I'm not going to give it stars. It was written well enough and had enough little twists and turn and clever little phrases that made it possibly a worthwhile read, though I certainly never would have picked it up if it hadn't have been on the reading challenge list, and I would never have gotten past the first few pages.


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