This is quite a tale. You could also call it The Gospel of Owen Meany. He truly was a picture of Christ, especially in death. It reminded me of Forrest Gump in some ways, too. I decided to read this book after seeing it on the Great American Reads list and having it recommended by a friend. Even though it is very long, it is worth the journey. I can just imagine Owen Meany and his voice perpetually at a screech. The narrator of the story is Owen's best friend Johnny Wheelwright. This is a tale of friendship, forgiveness and self-sacrifice told from the perspective of the late 80's, but focused on a fifteen-year span from 1953 to 1968. Definitely worthy of making the list.

TODAY’S THE DAY! ‘… HE THAT BELIEVETH IN ME, THOUGH HE WERE DEAD, YET SHALL HE LIVE; AND WHOSOEVER LIVETH AND BELIEVETH IN ME SHALL NEVER DIE.” (John 11:26)

This book is special. It's full of unique and interesting characters, but what made it really stand out for me was the way it made me laugh. Never before, and not since, have I laughed as often or as loudly while reading a book.

My favorite John Irving and I have read almost all.

" 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; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany."

That is the opening lines of the novel,and aptly describes what the book is about. This novel goes from there,and takes you on a wild ride of quirky characters,and circumstances that will make you laugh your ass off. This book is one I would whole heartily insist you read. Even if you've read Irving before,and missed this one. I bought this book in the early 90's,and after reading some of Irving's other novels, I just now got to this one. You know that book you've had on your shelf, like forever,and you just never got around to it, for some unknown reason? Yes, that's the one. I wish I had picked this up long ago, but then again maybe Owen himself , being the instrument of God, decided now was the only "ripe" time that I should open it's pages,and devour this fantastical novel for the very first time. I can see myself waiting several years,and reading this one again.....like I've done with Cider House Rules,and The World According to Garp.

What makes this book of Irving's different in my estimation is......it's denseness, it's goofiness,and it's wild humor. I thought this one had the most chaotic,and all around most complicated plot,and of all the times I have laughed at Irving's stories, I think I found myself laughing at this one the most. The characters are whacked in sooooooo many many cases,and yet they are endearing,and believable, totally charming,and you can almost understand why they act the way they do. As the first lines tell you, it all seems predestined from the start all the things that happen to these characters,and to Owen in this novel.

Irving spends a lot of time setting it up....unfolding the details,and the points of the plot, where you furiously read page after page because you just gotta know now what's happening. I have read that Irving is a big fan of Dickens. To me, this is like reading a Dickens novel....many of Dickens characters are truly strange, yet wonderful. The same formula here.

This is another Irving novel that I won't soon forget,and I do hope that someday I'll take the ride again,and reread this one. I am not a big fan of rereading....but Irving motivates me to do so. This book is no exception.

I know I've read on here that some people didn't like this one....and others loved it. I find that to be true of most of Irving's works. If you are a fan at all, read this one, if you haven't. If you've never experienced Irving.....you don't know what you're missing in this one.

I sure wish I could meet John someday!

I'm so glad they released 'A Prayer for Owen Meany: A Novel' for Kindle. I would have read it eventually otherwise, but I read this in the midst of multiple flights almost back to back. There were minor things that kept me from giving this five stars, but they are typical of John Irving's writing style.All in all, I loved this book.

Audio narrated by Joe Barrett

Opening sentence: 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; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.

This is a modern fable; a story of faith, moral courage, destiny and friendship. Covering the period from 1953 to the late 1980s, Irving uses the narrator – Johnny Wheelwright – to comment on the politics of the day, social mores, the role of faith and religion in our communities, and the miracle of enduring friendship.

I loved Owen Meany almost as much as Johnny did. He could be exasperating, but there was something so mature and wise and loving about him that simply drew me in. He was a born leader, and while he sometimes struggled with the burden of that leadership he forged ahead with courage, grace, dignity and faith.

Joe Barrett does a fine job performing the audio version. His unique voice for Owen Meany is very effective. I did read a few sections, and I have to agree somewhat with some of the negative reviews about the ALL CAPS used for Owen’s voice. This is where the audio version really helped.

I just this minute finished reading this book. I have never read anything by Irving. I am familiar with some of his books but know nothing about any of them. This particular book has recently received some glowing reviews from some of my GR friends and since I trust their judgment and have been looking for new books to read I picked up a copy. As I read this book I could understand how it could captivate a reader and could garner such rave reviews. I too was initially charmed by the book, its story, and its tone but then the author lost me. I thought the author had never learned that there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Reading this book became an experience like listening to a dynamic orator that doesn't know when to shut up. I was sure that this would be a three star review, tops. I kept reading.

The book is about two boys, 11 years old when the story starts, that grow up together in a small New Hampshire town. The story narrator is John Wheelwright and his friend is the titled character, Owen Meany. Most of the first half of the book takes place in the 1950's and primarily in 1953. One would have a hard time not being charmed by the antics of 2 11 year old boys in this last era of American quaintness in an all American small town community. I know I was taken by it. But then the author launches into his story and the mysteries and questions arise and I was further intrigued but did I mention the book is 543 pages long and there are only 9 chapters? I started with mild annoyance that went to irritation, and settled on aggravation. Irving is an excellent writer. I was certain there was a 5 star story in this book but he buried it under a mountain of unnecessary and excessive verbage.

I understand that it is necessary to include a certain amount of detail to a story's surroundings and to include develop extraneous characters. The purpose of such detail is to color the geographical, social, and emotional landscape that these 2 boys exist in. I can accept that but what the author included in this book exceeded what I considered reasonable. I thought 100 or more pages could easily have been edited from this book not only without harming it but actually improving it. The story would have read more easily and been easier to understand. So the more I read the more irritated I became primarily because I knew the book and its challenging message were very good and the reader was being distracted by almost constant inclusion of trivial scenes and superfluous characters. I wondered if Irving was being paid by the word. Now don't get me wrong all of this unnecessary material was very well written and even entertaining at times but it delayed the telling of the main story in my mind. This is what I meant by too much of a good thing. Why?

Well the story is John reminiscing about his life with his best and closest friend Owen Meany. John is recapping his life from Toronto, Canada in 1987 where he now lives and teaches at a local girl's prep school. In 1953 John's single mother is killed by being hit with a foul ball at a Little League game. The batter was Owen Meany. Of course it was an accident but this incident sets in motion a closeness to the relationship between John and Owen that was even greater than they had before the accident. The religious overtones in the story may seem excessive and might be off-putting for some but it is all part of the author's purpose. I got hooked into the questions being raised in the story but kept being annoyed by all the distracting side stories and characters. I didn't care about them. I wanted to know about John and Owen and John's mom and who John's father might be. I had lost patience with all this fluff material and my 3 star review was forming in my mind. I don't want to say much more about the plot of the book except by the time I got to the end I think I had an epiphany.

From the biographical material included in the book jacket it would appear that there is more than a casual similarity between the setting of this book and the life of John Irving. I am going to guess that this book may be a highly personal work for the author and may be based on real people in the author's life. Just a guess on my part. Further, the writing is really good so why would such a talent bury his message under all these unnecessary pages? This made no sense as surely the author knew what he was doing. Then it was the way Irving brought so much of this "unnecessary" material to relevance at the end. There had to be method to this wordiness. I thought about it from a different angle. I put myself in the character of the adult John. If I were reminiscing about my boyhood, my youth, the time I spent with the best friend I ever had would my telling of these times be brief? If I were a friend of adult John's and I knew he was talking about such a friend and that friend was dead and John was obviously grieving would I not sit and listen no matter how long the story lasted? Of course such a telling would meander, it would include all sorts of suddenly remembered people, places, and events and in no special order of time or place. I had wondered if the author, given the religious aspect of the story, was challenging the reader to undergo an ordeal in order to discover the challenge and message of his story. That might have been part of it but I think John needed a friend to tell his story to and the friend could take from the story whatever he wanted. This friend is glad he kept his mouth shut and the story could be told any way John wanted to tell it.

Brilliant

There were times that I thought some editing could’ve helped, admittedly. After all, it’s 1155 pages! But overall, it was the funniest sad story I’ve ever read, and it was brilliantly done. It was a deeply satisfying read. Over a year later, I still find myself thinking about this book.

This was a book that I couldn’t wait to finish. I mean that in both a good way and a negative way. I don’t doubt that many of those who have read John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany will understand what I mean, even if they do not share my impatience with, or perhaps even my praise of this tome. As the narrative progressed, I found that I was eager to learn what became of Owen Meany.

The book is narrated by Johnny Wheelwright, who is Owen’s best friend. Johnny tends to go off on tangents. He does not stick to the here and now but rather, he jumps back and forth between childhood, adulthood, back to childhood, to adolescence…You get my drift. He covers a range of topics, relevant history that many of us have lived through: John F. Kennedy’s election to the Presidency, his assassination, the Vietnam war, the protests. The war and the peace movement take center stage for a time. He also covers his time with his family – his grandmother, cousins – “Hester the Molester” in particular. He also goes on about his teaching career in Canada, which was the least interesting to me, except it showed that you can take the man out of America, but you can’t take America out of the man, at least in Wheelwright’s case.

At the center of it all is Owen Meany, a petite kid with a squeaky voice who writes in capital letters. Owen and Johnny’s lives change forever when Owen, who is not much of a baseball player, hits an errant ball that smacks Johnny’s mother and kills her. Owen is even more devastated than Johnny.

Through much of the book, I found him to be an obnoxious, self-righteous prig. I grew quite weary of the Christmas pageant, which seemed to go on and on and on, with Owen playing an angel, but finally, when he gets to play Baby Jesus, THAT was FUNNY! Then there is A Christmas Carol. Owen gets his wish and is given a non-speaking part, a ghost. That proves to be a turning point, as the ghost becomes spooked. A religious, no, a boy who deeply believes in God, and who hates Catholics, he firmly believes that God has a purpose for him.

Young Johnny seems unsure of his beliefs, but that doesn’t stop Owen from holding firmly to his. When the two boys attend a private high school, Owen becomes THE VOICE and spouts off his opinions (in all CAPS) even when they prove to be unpopular with the administration. There is a lot of meat and humor in his editorial comments, which eventually land him in trouble. The lad has a temper, but fortunately, he also has supporters who will bail him out. Despite his failings, he has a big heart, and he is a lovable character.

The politics of Vietnam comprise a large portion of the book in one form or another. It’s a coming-of-age tale with sexuality, drugs and alcohol, sports, and music. But it’s much more than that. Religion and faith - or religion vs. faith - are central themes in the story as well. It’s almost mystical at times. Events that occur early on may seem trivial, hardly symbolic, but they are worth paying attention to. The end, when it finally comes, is marvelously written. It gave me SHIVERS.

4 stars

WOW! OWEN MEANY...YOU ARE THE MAN!
OWEN MEANY IS ONE OF THOSE LITERARY CHARACTERS YOU WILL NOT SOON FORGET.
THIS BOOK RUNS THE GAMUT OF EMOTIONS AND IS VERY THOUGHT PROVOKING.
I'M WRITING THIS REVIEW IN ALL CAPS IN HONOR OF OWEN MEANY AND JOHN IRVING FOR SUCH A WONDERFUL READING EXPERIENCE. IF YOU HAVE READ THIS BOOK YOU WILL UNDERSTAND. AND IF NOT, YOU SHOULD READ THIS POWERFUL STORY.
THE WRITING IS RICHLY TEXTURED.
AMAZING!

Are you a believer of fate or of coincidence?

Well! That was interesting! I don't know why it took me almost three weeks to read this book. Maybe because I was trying to concentrate and savor all the foreshadowing, the analogies, the humor, and the symbolism in this story, which was about religion, politics, human relationships - life itself. It was during the final 100 pages where everything started falling into place for me. Glad I stuck with it!

This book is definitely character-driven:
*Johnny Wheelwright (narrator) - I would have been more than satisfied if his purpose was to reminisce about the life and times spent with Owen Meany - those were the parts I enjoyed most! BTW, I figured out who his father was within the first chapter! I think telling about his life (after Owen) was filler. Teachers like him often lead students to hate reading! At times, I felt his musings about his female students to be inappropriate.
*Owen Meany (title character) - that VOICE! "He demanded attention; and he got it." He's a self-proclaimed eccentric and peculiar person. What to make of him? Sometimes, I liked Owen, and sometimes he gave me THE SHIVERS.

As an aside: While messaging a GR friend shortly after Biden's Inauguration, he recalled watching Kennedy's Inauguration where Robert Frost struggled reading his poem, so imagine my surprise when I read about this same incident in this particular book several days later! Was this fate, or was it a coincidence?

This book will make you think!

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.