A Prayer for Owen Meany

Rating:
Summary: magnum opus
Review: Picture me, a prototype Hobbes-ian man with the battle scars to prove it, too tall for my bed and heavy enough to make it creak, softly weeping myself to sleep clutching my copy of "A Prayer for Owen Meany" and mumbling to myself, "I can't believe that's why they practised the shot. I can't believe that's why they practised the shot. I can't believe that's why they practised the shot." I guess that's why I feel compelled to paste my opinion here for you to read -- the vain hope that you'll pick this book up and enjoy it as much as I have.

Rating:
Summary: The best book I have ever read!
Review: Although this book is lengthy, it is still filled with the correct amounts of humor and sadness.

Rating:
Summary: Favorite book ever!
Review: If you haven't read this book, you owe it to yourself to try it. It is my favorite book of all time. I absolutely never wanted it to end! I even recently got a new puppy and I named him Owen after the main character. You'll understand if you read it, but he was little and sqeaky too when we got him. LOVED THIS BOOK!

Rating:
Summary: Frustrating, Heart-breaking, Breathless...
Review: Owen Meany was not at all what I expected. Yes, I fell in love with the book. Irving's style is ingenius. Owen Meany's purpose was unsatisfying to me--not at all dramatic as I had hoped, and overall very predictable yet unpredictable. I also have a bad habit of reading ahead which might have contributed to my disatisfaction with the novel's conclusion. However, I will not deny that this novel was brilliant. Infact, some parts still "give me the shivers...."

Rating:
Summary: The Boston Marathon of all Books
Review: Boy, I wanted to like this book because I'd heard so many great things about it. I will probably be flamed for the rest of my life, but I had to use superhuman willpower to get through this book. It's taken nearly six months to push through this long-winded tome. I read voraciously and I simply could not get interested in this book until, quite literally, the last 20 pages, with the last five being riveting. That's one heck of a price to pay for the first 600 pages.

To John Irving I respectfully award the "Get Over Yourself" award for his endless diatribes and digressions; to the character of Owen Meany I say, "All right already, we get the picture, just go and do something," and last but certainly not least to John Wheelwright, the narrator, "It's a great big world out there, even in Toronto. DO something! Get a life." And to Irving's editor, "You're paid to edit material, regardless of the author's name. So edit!"

Rating:
Summary: a wonderful story about friendship!
Review: When I began to read this book, I must concede I did not like Owen Meany at all : he was so proud of himself he could not act like others. Moreover, he even was at the origin of his best friend's mother's death! Whereas this best friend he had, the narrator, seemed to be nearly unexistent, always hiding behind Owen's acts and thoughts (which were one and only one thing, since Owen Meany always did what he wanted to do..). Nevertheless, as I kept on reading the story of such a great character, I got attached to such a man, who always remained faithful and loyal to his best friend. His death, even depicted by Owen himself long before he died, was a real shock : I coud not open a single book for several days after reading A prayer for Owen Meany, since I missed him and I knew well I would not find such a strong character, and such a strong story for a lon time. This is a wonderful book, thank you Mister IRVING!

Rating:
Summary: One of my favourite books
Review: My wife was reading this book a couple of years ago - laughing hysterically for much of the time. She kept insisting that I read it after her. Well, one day I accidentally picked it up and started to read. I was hooked. The problem was Susan was still only about halfway through. Our solution was to tear the book in half. Every time I finished a torn-off section, I had to wait while Susan read more, and then she'd tear off a new section. Our copy ended up in about 10 pieces, and I still remember the day I finished it, sick at home, lying in bed, pretty much sobbing.

Such a wonderful book.

Rating:
Summary: Simon Birch on steroids, what the voice really means
Review: If you liked The World According to Garp, you will enjoy this tale of not so ordinary life in Gravesend, New Hampshire. Conservatives will be inclined to skip the liberal Nixon/Reagan/Bush rantings and some of the counter-culture chatter that characterizes this work and contributes little to the story. We get the point after the first diatribe. To me, reading Irving is a mixture of dedication, patience, work and real enjoyment, but this is a book you will probably want to read again and again.

Rating:
Summary: A brilliant novel
Review: I reluctantly began reading this novel at the insistence of my wife, who had heard good things about it, but had not read it herself. To put it simply, I could not put it down. Such a brilliant novel about a simple boy who changed the world. I cannot express the profound effect this novel had on me, for I will never forget Owen Meany.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most tedious books I have ever read.
Review: This book has so many digressions, it is impossible to enjoy any story that might be hidden in the text. The nostalgia element of how neat it was to be a boy with a tragic and funny best friend was lost on me. I found myself using all my energy just to push through the book and finish it. But now I am sorry I didn't put it down when my instincts told me to. I will never get that time back.