This is my all-time favorite book. Three people told me separately, within a couple months of each other, that I had to read it, and they were right. I love John Irving's style, at times outrageously goofy and heartachingly sad. The terrible movie Simon Birch was loosely based on this book--they hacked off the last 3/4 of the book and tacked on an awful ending. It was sacrilege. The book follows childhood friends Owen and Johnny to early adulthood and their tragic fate, one Owen claimed all along had been assigned to him by God. And indeed, Irving's "2 by 4 to the head foreshadowing", as coined by my sophomore English teacher, is everpresent; slowly revealing what great deed Owen has been chosen to carry out. Pay attention to all those odd details Irving keeps repeating...they all will play a part.

This book is a great mix of religious discussion and criticism, childhood adventure & friendship, and the mystical. The characters, as Irving's usually are, are bizarre, dysfunctional, and intriguing. The plot twists and comes together so perfectly at the end it's breathtaking...I still have not been able to get through the last 20 or so pages without sobbing.