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A Prayer for Owen Meany

by John Irving (Goodreads Author)

4.2 of 5 stars 4.20 · rating details · 135,636 ratings · 7,132 reviews

John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany is the inspiring modern classic that introduced two of the author’s most unforgettable characters, boys bonded forever in childhood: the stunted Owen Meany, whose life is touched by God, and the orphaned Johnny Wheelwright, whose life is touched by Owen. From the accident that links them to the mystery that follows them–and the martyrd...more

Paperback, 637 pages

Published May 1st 1990 by Corgi Adult (first published 1989)

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Jul 27, 2007 Marty rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: favorites, classics, fiction, storyteller

A long time ago, I came across a story that my grandmother recommended. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I definitely hadn’t expected to read what would become my favorite book. The story begins as many do, giving background on the area that will provide the setting for our tale, a history as reference, but quickly catches up with the main characters and the supporting cast. And we quickly learn of Johnny and Owen Meany, two friends who forge an eternal bond despite their obvious mismatches - p...more

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Mar 12, 2009 Jason rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Jesus Christ

I've been on a huge John Irving kick recently, and man, am I glad I didn't start with this book because I might have aborted the whole thing before I had a chance to read some of his better works.

This one just didn't do it for me. Whereas I left other Irving novels feeling recharged and alive, I left this one pissed off and ready to drink cheap tequila until I blacked out and woke up in a new world where there are no books or stories or any sort of entertainment derived from the written word.

Fi...more I've been on a huge John Irving kick recently, and man, am I glad I didn't start with this book because I might have aborted the whole thing before I had a chance to read some of his better works.

This one just didn't do it for me. Whereas I left other Irving novels feeling recharged and alive, I left this one pissed off and ready to drink cheap tequila until I blacked out and woke up in a new world where there are no books or stories or any sort of entertainment derived from the written word.

First of all, I think Irving has a habit of using his novel's narrators as a stand in for himself, which is fine, since he seems like and incredibly interesting dude, but here I felt like he was just going through the motions "Oh, ok, here's my main character, and he's different than me, uh, because we have different names and um...different parents...anyway, yeah, that's how we're different ok story time now!!!" it was a thin disguise at best and didn't work for me at all.

My second problem was the structure. The book takes place over the span of about 30 years, and sometimes events from all thirty were addressed in a single page. Which is fine, if it works, but I felt like he was trying to go for an "omni-present" narrative that ended up being muddled.

I also think the book might work better for people who are a little older than myself. A large part of the story deals with the Vietnam war and it's relation to the Iran Contra scandal. While these passages were in no way "lacking" it did seem like they were aimed for people who were alive during that time, and could share in Irving's (obvious) outrage. Side note - I found myself finding a bazillion (yes, a bazillion) similarities between the national atmosphere in '68, and now.

Oh, and while I love Irving's knack for the unusual, here it seemed like every other page he was trying to force a "classic" situation, wherein unusual characters meet in an unusual situation that illuminates their nature in the most unusual of ways. It got so bad that at times I felt like I was reading a sitcom.

There were a few bright spots. I was genuinely moved by Owen's character, and I thought he served as a wonderful example of how Christ could have been at once holy, and flawed.

Gah - The thing is, Irving is a new love in my life, and like any new love, I wanted it to be perfect. But he isn't and that's fine because who wants perfection anyway but goddamn I wanted to love this one.

Um, yes. Ok, well, I'm giving it two stars - but two stars for Irving is four for most other authors.(less)

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Nov 30, 2010 Nathan rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Someone really bored

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...more 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.(less)

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Oct 04, 2011 Jacob rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-and-literature, i-own, irving-james-melville, 2011

October 2011

The World According to Garp is one of my favorite books, and my favorite of John Irving's books as well. It was also my first Irving novel. I first read it in 2006, and it was nearly a year before I worked up the courage to read more of Irving's work. Garp was such a good novel, I was worried that anything else wouldn't measure up to it--or it would, and Garp would suddenly pale in comparison to something even better. I'm not sure which possibility scared me more.

It turned out to be...more October 2011

The World According to Garp is one of my favorite books, and my favorite of John Irving's books as well. It was also my first Irving novel. I first read it in 2006, and it was nearly a year before I worked up the courage to read more of Irving's work. Garp was such a good novel, I was worried that anything else wouldn't measure up to it--or it would, and Garp would suddenly pale in comparison to something even better. I'm not sure which possibility scared me more.

It turned out to be the former: A Prayer for Owen Meany wasn't quite as good as Garp. At least, I didn't enjoy it as much. It didn't quite work for me, but I chalked that up to the order I had read the books: Garp was first, so naturally the next Irving novel I read wouldn't be as good.

Since that time, I've read more by Irving, and reread some of them (the epilogue to Garp is almost perfect; the first chapter of A Son of the Circus is almost perfect, too), so I thought it was time to reread Owen Meany too. Give it another chance. Draw it out of Garp's shadow and let it stand on its own.

But Garp casts a big shadow.

As I wrote in an early review, "The World According to Garp is a wonderful story, but it feels more like a life--the life of Garp--than a novel; A Prayer for Owen Meany, on the other hand, felt more like a novel than a life. Interesting, sure. Good, sure. But a tad long, and occasioanlly dull--sure. John, the narrator, is a dull boy and a duller man, and Owen tends to get annoying at times. And the magic of Garp, that of a story with a historical setting going on to create its own grand history, is reversed here, and Owen Meany ends up being shaped by history instead. Nothing wrong with that, of course--but I just didn't get the magic."

A Prayer for Owen Meany is still a good book, and still somewhat interesting--but I still don't get the magic. Meanwhile, The World According to Garp is still my favorite, and still my first. I don't need to ask what would have happened if I had read it second.
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Aug 31, 2011 Noce rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: narrativa-americana

Come un disegno di Escher

Avvertenze.

Prima di iniziare questo romanzo, siete pregati di munirvi del seguente Book-kit:

-Un vasto, quanto variegato campionario di espressioni facciali, da sfoggiare di pari passo con le molteplici emozioni di queste quasi 600 pagine. C'è di tutto, ma proprio tutto; dalla faccia angosciata a quella incredula, da quella divertita a quella intimamente commossa, da quella riflessiva a quella estasiata, e così via.

- Google o Wikipedia a portata di mano.
Il contesto politi...more

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Nov 20, 2012 Jil rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: the faithful, the political, the tiny

Recommended to Jil by: Micah's mother

Much like Garcia Marquez's Vivir Para Contarlo, this book took FOREVER, and I sometimes felt embarrassed to have been carrying it around for weeks. I felt obligated to apologize to people: "I swear I'm a fast reader! I've just had a lot of work to do, and... this fucking thing is 550 pages!"

Somehow, though, it never felt that long. It never felt tedious, I mean; it felt long in the sense that it seemed I had known Owen and Johnny forever. It felt long in that the passage of time was steady and...more Much like Garcia Marquez's Vivir Para Contarlo, this book took FOREVER, and I sometimes felt embarrassed to have been carrying it around for weeks. I felt obligated to apologize to people: "I swear I'm a fast reader! I've just had a lot of work to do, and... this fucking thing is 550 pages!"

Somehow, though, it never felt that long. It never felt tedious, I mean; it felt long in the sense that it seemed I had known Owen and Johnny forever. It felt long in that the passage of time was steady and purposeful, never choppy, but never sluggish. In these 550 pages, I became introduced to a world so rich and so comic that I felt entirely a part of it, familiar with every character and every nuance.

I had seen Simon Birch when I was 8 or so; I remember being horrified because one of the boys says, "You look like shit," and I had never heard the s-word in a movie before. I found out the movie was based on this book before I started reading it, and throughout the first half, scenes from the movie kept flashing into my head. As the book progressed, though, the story changed entirely and lost a lot of what made it so powerful.

The religious part of this book, I'll admit, was nearly lost on me - that is to say, I understood and appreciated the language, but I am so entirely unfaithful, so entirely non-believing, that a good chunk of the book's theme was just unrelatable for me. Still, Irving presented Owen's (and later, Johnny's) beliefs in such a compelling, sincere, and apolitical way that I couldn't help but be admiring of their faith rather than cynical.

Further, the political themes in this novel were SO compelling that everything else had been awful, it still would have been a masterpiece. Reading Owen Meany's assessment of Kennedy: "I THINK HE'S A KIND OF SAVIOR... HE'S GOT SOMETHING WE NEED", his hope and optimism and belief in a better government, was incredibly resounding after Obama's election. It's a bit sad, too; the optimism for Kennedy obviously didn't pan out, and one can only hope that the cyclical nature of poor government doesn't continue. This cyclical nature is painfully evident in the narrator's complaints about the Vietnam war and later, the Iran-Contra scandal - he laments a government so willing to put boys in an unjust war, so willing to lie to its people. Obviously, things have not changed at all. But like Owen Meany, I will have faith in something - in this case, faith that things will get better - even if there is no evidence to support it. (less)

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Jun 22, 2007 Ashley rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: currentlyreading

a whole-hearted kind of irving novel. my irving kick started with the cider house rules and burned quickly through garp (good to start with the classics), a widow for one year (didn't like very much), hotel new hampshire, and then owen meany. irving has a kind of roundness and soulfulness on the one hand that really brings you into the characters. they have full and complex voices and sometimes nearly inscrutable relationships. hardly any other authors i can think of have such a light touch that...more

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Mar 29, 2008 Penny rated it 2 of 5 stars

I've been giving too many four star reviews lately, so thought I'd mix it up with a review of a book I have conflicted feelings about. Thus, two stars for Owen Meany. Which, by the way, is my favorite of the John Irving novels I've read. Not a fan.

I enjoyed many elements of Owen Meany as I read it. Liked the narrator's family (mother, grandmother, cousins) and the business with the stuffed armadillo. Liked his description of his school days, and thought that the section in which Owen transfixes...more I've been giving too many four star reviews lately, so thought I'd mix it up with a review of a book I have conflicted feelings about. Thus, two stars for Owen Meany. Which, by the way, is my favorite of the John Irving novels I've read. Not a fan.

I enjoyed many elements of Owen Meany as I read it. Liked the narrator's family (mother, grandmother, cousins) and the business with the stuffed armadillo. Liked his description of his school days, and thought that the section in which Owen transfixes the town with his performances as Baby Jesus and the Ghost of Christmas Future was beautifully realized. At the end, however, I came to think that, a) Owen had basically ruined his best friend's life, and b) God (or at least John Irving) had really messed up with his big plan for Owen.

The second point first. I'll try to avoid spoilers, but it is clear from the beginning of the book that Owen is a character with a predestined fate. He sees a vision in his childhood and then spends his life working to realize it. Because he is smart and driven (and, he and the narrator believe, guided by God), he becomes a substantial personality in his school. Irving does a great job reminding the readers how powerful a figure a high school leader can be.

Then you get to the climax and we find the meaning of Owen's fate. And I must say, I found it a huge let-down. I thought -- all those clues, all that dedication by this exceptional person, for THIS? Its as if God saw that some guy was going to cause a big multi-car pile-up and thought, I know, I'll have Michelangelo's David fall on top of him and that will prevent the big car accident. The David will be smashed, but hey. I mean, you figure that the tool will be matched to the job that needs to be accomplished. There must have been other ways for God to bring about the events in the climax.

Then, the relationship between Owen and the narrator (whose name, rather appropriately, I've forgotten). Owen was the leading figure and the narrator his best buddy, Ron Weasley to his Harry Potter. The narrator is consumed by thoughts of his friend and his story (he is the one offering the prayer of the title). But it seems to me that he has failed to realize his own life, and his brilliant friend has contributed to that. Owen actively obstructs his friend from participating in some life experiences -- joining the military for example or, I think, feeling comfortable and confident sexually. Early in the book, you find out that the narrator does not know the identity of his father: Owen tells him that at very least, he knew his father had slept with his mother, so when he feels lustful this is a connection and clue (actually, Owen seems more interested in this question than the narrator does). The narrator is, let's say, no Lothario, and I wondered if Owen's suggestion had made him connect desire with the abandonment of his mother. At any rate, what little life force the narrator has seems to be concentrated on thoughts of his friend -- he saw Owen's potential but not his own.

So ultimately, I found Owen Meany an interesting and engaging book until the end, when suddenly the entire outcome became a downer and based on moral premises I found highly questionable. I've been mad at Irving for making me care about Owen and his friend ever since. (less)

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Feb 16, 2013 Rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wow. What a strange book. At times fascinating, at times tedious, at times hilarious. It had me IN STITCHES, for the first 150 pages or so; I kept laughing out loud! Oh my gosh.

I wasn't too thrilled with the Christmas pageant segment, so at that point in the book, my laugh-out-loud rate slowed down from about 1 laugh for every 5 pages to about 1 laugh for every 50 (but don't worry, I'm sure there was at least one inner chuckle on every page).

(My book was the paperback, beige cover with an imag...more

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view all 8 comments

Petya I like how you described the grown-up John Wheelright, he's a prick :) And yes, it seems to me now that Irving was indeen making a point with John's h...more
Feb 23, 2013 07:50am

Rachel Thank you, Petya. Yes, I did find it to be very interesting about the miracles. Mr Merrill, the minister, thinks he witnessed a miracle, but John know...more
Feb 28, 2013 08:35pm

Jan 08, 2010 Nick G rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm short on time for this review, but man, this is the closest thing to "a perfect story" as anything I've ever read.

***I'm back a few days later to edit my review, because I can't stop thinking about this book. It might be my favorite. I might be in love with this story. As the first sentence of the story starts out, "I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice...", well, I am, too.

***SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON IN THE REVEIW***

I think I fell in love with book as I read one specific sen...more

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Jan 01, 2008 Tom rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

I'm sure you can read a million reviews about this book. It seems to be many people's favorite. Let me just say that I have read 5 or 6 John Irving books, and this is the only one that is much more than a good story. About 10 years ago I was assisting a photography class for adults, and one of the particpants, a minister, saw that I was reading this book. He said that A prayer for Owen Meany had more to say about the nature of God than anything he had ever read. We had a fabulous conversation ab...more

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Jul 26, 2011 Marco Tamborrino rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Questo è - è stato - il mio primo incontro con Irving. Occorre partire da zero per analizzarlo come si deve.

'Un giorno dell'estate 1953, con una palla lanciata durante una partita di baseball, Owen Meany uccide per sbaglio l'adorata madre del suo più caro compagno di giochi, John Wheelwright.'
Sembra questa (le prime tre righe di trama) la premessa per una storia diversa da quello che poi si rivelerà essere. Ci immaginiamo una difficoltà di compresione tra i due amici in seguito alla morte della...more

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Apr 20, 2010 Skylar Burris rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: general-fiction

This is a well written book, with unique characters, and it was a "good read," but I don't think I can say I actually liked it. A Prayer for Owen Meany, despite the narrator's insistence that the Resurrection is the heart of Christianity, presents a joyless Christianity. Christ said, "I have come to give you life, and to give it more abundantly," yet no Christian in this story seems to have an "abundant" life.

I noticed that all of the characters who are representatives of Christianity, even Owe...more This is a well written book, with unique characters, and it was a "good read," but I don't think I can say I actually liked it. A Prayer for Owen Meany, despite the narrator's insistence that the Resurrection is the heart of Christianity, presents a joyless Christianity. Christ said, "I have come to give you life, and to give it more abundantly," yet no Christian in this story seems to have an "abundant" life.

I noticed that all of the characters who are representatives of Christianity, even Owen Meany, seem to have one thing in common: their Christianity is a Christianity without joy. There is the narrator, who is isolated, lonely, judgmental, and bitter, constantly condemning the Pharisees; there is the minister whose faith is dry, whose belief is purely academic, whose family is portrayed as dead inside; there are the parents who are burdened by the weight of superstition and live an almost ghostly existence. Even the hero's Christianity, the Christianity that is the narrator's ideal, the Christianity of Owen Meany, is ultimately a Christianity without joy. Owen has faith in God, but he is resigned, even bordering on fatalistic; he may arguably be content, but to me he seems to utterly lack joy. Like the narrator, he spends a great deal of his life judging others, and he is described as difficult to live with; at times he even seems miserable. The narrator (or Owen?) says: "watch out for people who call themselves religious; make sure you know what they mean—make sure they know they mean!" Does the narrator know what he means by "religious"? Does Owen Meany?

The narrator delights in railing against those he deems to be false Christians. He takes little pity on others for their lack of faith, though he himself wrestles with doubt; he has no mercy for politicians forced to make hard choices in a fallen world beset by sin. He spends a good part of the book raging with polemics against Americans, America, and Ronald Reagan, as well as against evangelical Christians. His best friend and hero Owen Meany would agree: "What's wrong with…them is that they're so sure they're right." But so too is Owen Meany "so sure" he's right, so too is the narrator; and with that assurance they condemn those who are not as they are.

The narrator does admit that his "lack of forgiveness" is the least Christian thing about him, and yet he does not seem to strive to do anything about it. For me, the lonely, isolated, embittered narrator is an uncomfortable reminder of how easy it is for any one of us to waste our lives in washing the outside of the cup and in pointing fingers of censure, instead of simply getting on with the business of living and loving and praying and serving and laughing. A Prayer for Owen Meany shows us a Christianity of mystery, of blood, of fate, and of miracles, but never a Christianity of joy.
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Mar 08, 2008 Jenni rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I'm reading this again after several years and I have to say it's still a great story. Last time I was in my late teens, and now I can appreciate the craft of his storytelling on a different level. First off, how he manipulates time, and does it so seamlessly is just amazing. One can learn a great deal about easing in and out of time periods from Irving because you barely notice the time shifts, even though they can be as large as a decade between paragraphs. For the first 100 or so pages, he mo...more

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Jun 23, 2009 C. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to C. by: 1001

Shelves: to-be-re-read

I liked this book. I didn't find it powerful, or moving - it wasn't one of those books that seemed to have singled me out at a crowded party, taken me to a quiet bedroom and stolen my literary virginity - but I enjoyed it. It never dragged, was never boring, always entertaining, often good for a laugh... but I don't think I quite got it.

I was waiting for something more spectacular to happen at the end. That there was all this build up just for him to do something that I won't spoil here but that...more

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Jul 29, 2009 Emma rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is quite possibly my favorite book of all time. I think that it is Irving at his best. There are events set out early on in the book that tie back in at the end beautifully. I finished this book on the bus from Mont st. Michelle and cried my eyes out. The characters were just believable enough and yet still stretched the bounds of what you would expect. I hope that someday I find a stuffed armadillo...

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Dec 18, 2006 Courtney rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone - funny and poignant

Shelves: fiction

Irving's books are filled with oddly endearing characters and off-center humor. Owen Meany is a little person with a strange voice who believes he is the instrument of God after he kills his friend's mom with a baseball. Often hilarious and poignant, this is a fun, engrossing read.

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Sep 26, 2011 Sandra aka Sleo rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, favorites

I'd give it more than 5 stars if I could. It's going in my 'favorites' pile. I don't know when I've read a book with so much humor, tragedy, love, truth, love, and plain old deep understanding of human nature.

I listened to this book and it's one of the few I've listened to that I didn't 'zone out', fall asleep, get bored, or whatever. There are parts, thankfully, that are less intense, but they didn't bore me. At times I was weeping and laughing out loud at the same time. Drove my dogs nuts.

I re...more I'd give it more than 5 stars if I could. It's going in my 'favorites' pile. I don't know when I've read a book with so much humor, tragedy, love, truth, love, and plain old deep understanding of human nature.

I listened to this book and it's one of the few I've listened to that I didn't 'zone out', fall asleep, get bored, or whatever. There are parts, thankfully, that are less intense, but they didn't bore me. At times I was weeping and laughing out loud at the same time. Drove my dogs nuts.

I read his other famous novels years ago and while I liked them a lot, they nowhere near moved me as much. I kept trying to imagine if I would be as involved if I were reading it instead of listening, and can't really say, as the narrator was absolutely perfect. His voice for Owen Meany was so true to the description that it was hard to believe there wasn't a second person involved in the narration.

Since I was born about the same time as the story teller, John Wheelwright, perhaps parts of the story were more meaningful to me. I completely remember the chaos of the Viet Nam war, the craziness of Iran-Contra. I, too, did not know my father but had a stepfather who did a fairly decent job of parenting me. I'd like to think, though, that people without those commonalities could enjoy the book as much as I did.

Some reviewers have complained about the time span and how the story moves back and forth in time. That was so not an issue for me. It was woven so completely together that I was never confused.

This book is a good example of how it often doesn't matter what a book is about. If someone had told me it was about a friendship between two boys in New Hampshire, one of which never grows taller than five feet and never outgrows his high, squeaky voice, I probably wouldn't have been much interested. It's also a good example of how little complexity depends on vast numbers of characters, changing landscapes, and endless new plot elements. Irving's ability to develop complexity in relationships and emotions is enough. (less)

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Jan 02, 2009 Antof9 rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2005-read, made-me-think, made-me-cry, upsetting

The review I wrote on BookCrossing, 5 months after I read it: The biggest problem in writing a journal entry for this book is that I read it about 6 months ago. *sigh* I had every intention of writing a journal entry right away, and even started one once, but had computer problems, and lost it before I ever saved. That was a good entry, too.

So.. . I did and didn't like this book. I'd love to talk to John Irving about it. Is this true? Quasi-true? Did he know someone sort of like Owen Meany? It's...more

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Oct 21, 2008 Kerfe rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

The characters and stories in this book linger. It's messy with contradiction. Religion, faith and doubt, politics, war, life and death, truth, sex, family, education, America, the nature of love and friendship, growing up (or not)--all bases are covered, denied, embraced, refused, embellished and stripped bare.

Moving between the narrator John Wheelwright's present, during the Reagan administration, and his youth in the 50's and 60's in a small New Hampshire town, the central character, Owen Mea...more

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Dec 27, 2007 Kirstie rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who love literature

I have a secret to tell...I wasn't always a huge book reader. I grew up in a family of avid readers and it was always joked that my mom was born with a book in her hand. But, for me, when I was in high school, I chose to stick to shorter novels like Catcher in the Rye and The Bell Jar and anything over 500 pages seemed just way too daunting. I remember thinking that for a long time picking up A Prayer For Owen Meany, which is easily Irving's best in the four of his I've read (Hotel New Hampshire...more

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Jul 27, 2007 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-of-youth

I think most people want to believe that their actions are important and have meaning, but only so far as this belief doesn’t make them feel guilty or require real sacrifice. But to truly see the bigger picture… to see yourself as an irreplaceable and integral part of a larger network affecting the world is terrifying because then you're personally accountable. And to act within that knowledge and for the true benefit of others requires real courage and faith.

I think Owen Meany does a wonderful...more

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Sep 12, 2012 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, 2012

“I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice..."

I read this book in high school and it changed everything for me. It turned me into a reader and a writer (albeit fledgling-my agent swears this one will sell!) and it changed the way I look at everything. A Prayer for Owen Meany is everything that’s good about literature. It’s a story that sucks you in with characters so complex and awesome you wonder how they can’t be real. I have two daughters but any boys would’ve been named Owen for sur...more

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Apr 04, 2007 Anne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: EVERYONE

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...more

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Mar 01, 2013 Corey rated it 1 of 5 stars

Having read and absolutely loved The World According To Garp, I thought I'd give this one, which I'd heard many good things about, a try. I made it 300 pages before I accidentally left my copy in Vermont and had very little will to go about getting it back. I could check it out from the library, but to be honest, I think it was just a sign. I was given no reason to like the characters, and the needlessly long and overwritten part about the Christmas pageant bored me to tears. I'm sure Irving tho...more

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Mar 06, 2008 Suzanne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic

I had read many Irving books but not this one until my sister recommended it. I agreed with her assessment that it is an extraordinarily fine piece of literature. What is just so "Irving" is his unpredictability in developing a character. He continues to write about life in a New England prep school yet finds a way to tell a story not yet told. The townies vs the preppies has been done before but not Owen the dwarf who accidently kills someone, and plays baby Jesus in the school Christmas pagean...more

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Aug 11, 2008 Darby rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is probably my all-time favorite. I've teach it in class from time to time, which is probably a mistake, as there are always students who feel the need to criticize it, something no one should do in my prescense! This book focuses on one of my favorite themes in literature: the power of that which we cannot see. In this case, the invisible power is faith - namely, Owen's faith in God. I'm not really a religious person at all, but this book was life-changing for me.

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May 18, 2007 Ben rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, good-fiction, religion-spirituality, war, to-read-again, funny-shit, families, memorable-characters

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.

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Jul 26, 2012 Harue Jules rated it 5 of 5 stars

One of my all time favourite books and one that made me wonder what is like for Irving to have peaked so early in his career.

While The World According to Garp is more renowned, I think this book is better.

Classical Irving style, there are some incredibly funny parts that had me in stitches. He always has a scene or two that can do that to the reader.

Owen is a tiny boy with a funny voice. He is tormented and teased but it does not affect him. He just goes on being Owen.

And the boy observing al...more

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Aug 04, 2008 Ibtisam helen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

This may well be my favorite book of all time. I have never laughed or cried so hard reading a book. Hoping to check out more works by Irving in the near future....

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john irving fan: Would 'A Prayer for Owen Meany' make a good film?	5	12	May 09, 2013 02:32am
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About John Irving

John Irving published his first novel, Setting Free the Bears, in 1968. The World According to Garp, which won the National Book Award in 1980, was John Irving’s fourth novel and his first international bestseller; it also became a George Roy Hill film. Tony Richardson wrote and directed the adaptation for the screen of The Hotel New Hampshire (1984). Irving’s novels are now translated into thirty...more John Irving published his first novel, Setting Free the Bears, in 1968. The World According to Garp, which won the National Book Award in 1980, was John Irving’s fourth novel and his first international bestseller; it also became a George Roy Hill film. Tony Richardson wrote and directed the adaptation for the screen of The Hotel New Hampshire (1984). Irving’s novels are now translated into thirty-five foreign languages, and he has had nine international bestsellers. Worldwide, the Irving novel most often called “an American classic” is A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989)—the portrayal of an enduring friendship at that time when the Vietnam War had its most divisive effect on the United States.

In 1992, Mr. Irving was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma. (He competed as a wrestler for twenty years, until he was thirty-four, and coached the sport until he was forty-seven.) In 2000, Irving won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules—a Lasse Hallström film with seven Academy Award nominations. Tod Williams wrote and directed The Door in the Floor—the 2004 film adapted from Mr. Irving’s ninth novel, A Widow for One Year.

In One Person is John Irving’s thirteenth novel, which will be published by Simon & Schuster in May 2012. A compelling novel of desire, secrecy, and sexual identity, In One Person is a story of unfulfilled love — tormented, funny, and affecting — and an impassioned embrace of our sexual differences. Billy, the bisexual narrator and main character of In One Person, tells the tragicomic story (lasting more than half a century) of his life as a “sexual suspect,” a phrase first used by John Irving in 1978 — in his landmark novel of “terminal cases,” The World According to Garp.

His most political novel since The Cider House Rules and A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving’s In One Person is a poignant tribute to Billy’s friends and lovers — a theatrical cast of characters who defy category and convention. Not least, In One Person is an intimate and unforgettable portrait of the solitariness of a bisexual man who is dedicated to making himself “worthwhile.”

Born John Wallace Blunt, Jr., in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1942, Mr. Irving’s name was changed to John Winslow Irving in 1948, when his mother remarried. (His mother’s maiden name was Winslow.) Mr. Irving named his first son, Colin, after his stepfather, Colin F.N. Irving, who taught in the History Department at Phillips Exeter Academy, where John Irving graduated in 1961; he was captain of the wrestling team at Exeter, and also wrestled at the University of Pittsburgh. Mr. Irving later attended the Institute for European Studies in Vienna, Austria. He has a B.A. from the University of New Hampshire and a M.F.A. from the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, where his mentor was Kurt Vonnegut.

Before the success of The World According to Garp enabled John Irving to become a full-time writer, he had several college teaching positions—not only at his alma mater in Iowa City, where he taught for three years, but also at Mt. Holyoke College and Brandeis University.

In the ‘80s, Mr. Irving lived in New York City and on eastern Long Island; since 1990, he has lived in Toronto and in southern Vermont. He has three sons—Colin, Brendan, and Everett—and four grandchildren. John Irving is married to Janet Turnbull Irving—formerly a Canadian publisher, who is now Mr. Irving’s literary agent in the U.S. His agent in Canada, and for the U.K., is Dean Cooke—at the Cooke Agency in Toronto. Mr. Irving is represented internationally by Nicki Kennedy at I.L.A. in London; his film agent is Robert Bookman at C.A.A. in Los Angeles.

In 2001, Mr. Irving was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. John Irving’s 70th birthday is March 2, 2012.(less)

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Quotes from A Prayer for Owen Meany

“If you care about something you have to protect it – If you’re lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.” — 1,408 people liked it

“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.” — 833 people liked it

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