A Prayer for Owen Meany in 100 books to read before you die

Nov 13, 2015 Nicole rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 1001-list-books, favorites, audible, historical, 2015

So, SO good! John Irving has single-handedly redeemed The List for me here at the end of the year. Incredible characterization and atmosphere, perfectly woven narrative and historical events, a glimpse into the almost-everyday life of a couple of boys in New Hampshire but with just enough of the unusual to keep things interesting. The reader's knowledge that something bad is coming is not enough to overshadow the beauty of so many scenes in this story - a bitter-sweetness to be savored and exper ...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Vanessa rated it liked it

This reading was a tag team of kindle e-book and audible audiobook with narration by Joe Barrett. I must say that the narration was spot-on. My favorite voice was that of the absurd school psychiatrist, Dr. Dolder.

It's difficult to review this book. Frankly, I can't believe I ever bought it in the first place, as there are few subjects that I would rather read about less than religion and politics. A Prayer for Owen Meany is primarily a book about religion and politics. Now to justify my three s This reading was a tag team of kindle e-book and audible audiobook with narration by Joe Barrett. I must say that the narration was spot-on. My favorite voice was that of the absurd school psychiatrist, Dr. Dolder.

It's difficult to review this book. Frankly, I can't believe I ever bought it in the first place, as there are few subjects that I would rather read about less than religion and politics. A Prayer for Owen Meany is primarily a book about religion and politics. Now to justify my three star review. Usually a three-star rating can be taken to mean I liked it . In this case, three stars is actually an average of a four star and a two star review.

I'm having trouble organizing this review into a logical progression of ideas, so I'll just take a leaf from Mr. Irving's book and completely disregard any kind of sensible structure.

WARNING: Mild spoilers follow

Things I Liked:
1) No one can ever claim that John Irving can't write (with caveats below).
2) Some parts of the story were very engrossing
3) There were a few unexpected plot twists, which I appreciated
4) The concept is so novel that I really had no idea where the story was going, which kept me interested long enough to pull me through the less enjoyable portions of the book

Things I didn't like:
1) Thinly veiled political commentary regarding the Vietnam war and the American people. All of the sections written in present day are basically diatribes that, in my opinion, don't add anything to the novel.
2) Unfair and incongruous characterization of the American public as lazy, uneducated, and indifferent to the actions of their leaders. Throughout the book, most of the main characters have anti-war sentiments, some of them very strong. However, in John's later years, he asserts that Americans don't really care what their leaders are doing and he can hardly stand to read about the unspeakable ignorance of the populace. Thankfully, he is now a Canadian citizen, except he has spent so much time obsessing over what the Americans are doing that he has not bothered to learn anything about being a Canadian. Typical American, right?
3) Weird lack of demonstrated emotion for the number of horrific events told from the first person. John's character struck me as completely without personality in his early years, and as a weird fundamentalist of some sort in his later years. Throughout all of the deaths that occur, the lack of emotional response was highly conspicuous, unless you count that time he got an erection while comforting the maid. He starts off so bland and ends up so hateful, and the events of the novel don't fully justify this transition, in my opinion.
4) The revelation of John's father felt slap-dash. Oops, I need to reveal his father, but this book is already loooooong. I'll just throw something in there, no matter how implausible.
5) the construction of the novel was lacking. The story spans a few decades, and you can be in the 60's in one sentence and back to the 80's in the very next. The progression of the story didn't always feel smooth, although some of this can be attributed to the fact that it's being written in a sort of diary or memoir style. Because of this disjointed structure, the author uses a lot of phrases like "…as you shall see", which I hate. You might not "see" for 100 or more pages, and by that time you will have totally forgotten the last paragraph that referenced the event being described.

After having said all of that, I don't know that three stars adequately reflects my feelings on this book. There were times when I literally dreaded picking the book up, and other times that I couldn't put it down. I do think that the story got better towards the end, when some of the loose threads and missing pieces were woven back together. Unfortunately, I can only say that I really enjoyed about a quarter of the book. When the writing was good, it was very good. I'll probably give John Irving another shot, perhaps picking up something that I'm a little more familiar with such as The World According to Garp or The Cider House Rules. ...more

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Nov 14, 2013 Kaysha rated it it was amazing

Shelves: bbc-booklist-challenge

I started reading this book without realizing how heartbreaking it was actually going to be. I grew so attached to Owen Meany...not only because of who he was, and what he stood for, but because of the way John Wheelwright spoke of him. Mr. Irving could not have been more perfect in his storytelling. I don't think I have read 600 pages faster, or with more intrigue, than when reading this book. By far, my favorite book, ever. ...more

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