Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely amazing! And accurate!
Review: I was assigned this book as summer reading before my senior year of high school. I should also mention that I am from New Hampshire, like Owen Meany. What the faculty at my school didn't seem to realize is that the last thing New Hampshire high school students want to read about is New Hampshire. But I have never been more pleasantly surprised. Owen is comparable, in the manner of character to such others as Holden Caulfield and Irving's talent is unparralled. A Prayer For Owen Meany actually made me proud to live in New Hampshire, (just two towns over from Owen, incidentally) and I will continue to read and love,this book for a long time.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Irving's best!
Review: After being a dedicated Irving-fan for years, I was really looking forward to reading "Owen Meany". Boy, was I in for a dissapiontment! I struggled through the book. The dialogue and the story lacks all the tender warmth and compassion I feel the author must have felt when writing such excellent books as "Garp" and "Cider House Rules". "Owen Meany" is't a bad book, but from a writer like John Irving your standards get pretty high.
Rating:
Summary: Owen Meany... the most unforgetable character
Review: A Prayer For Owen Meany is one of the best books I have ever read. Through out the whole book, I laughed and cried at the same time. On events when most would have felt sad, I laughed at how the author described the situation. It was very unfortunate when Johnny's housekeeper died, but I couldn't help but laugh when John Irving describes the coins placed on her eyelids to keep them close. A Prayer for Owen Meany discusses so many issues at the same time, that it was almost like stories and stories within one book. You can not say A Prayer for Owen Meany was about something specific, because it was about life and everything else. Owen Meany is a great book to read. It was everything about humanity and John Irving does not mince words to state the point he wants to make. The whole plot of A Prayer for Owen Meany was so twisted yet it all comes down to one thing and that was Owen Meany. Owen was such a memorable character that how could one forget him? Even now, I can still see Owen's small stature with this unnatural, great voice that no one can't help but hear . I see little Owen Meany screaming at his parents to get out of the church because it was a sacrilege and I see him cutting off Johnny's finger to save him. I have read countless books, but Owen Meany is by far the most unforgettable character. He becomes alive as I read the book and I felt a loss when he died. Sometimes it makes me wonder if there is an Owen Meany in this world. Owen symbolized such a strong character. He was constantly teased about his physical appearance yet he fought back with defiance when others would have been broken. A Prayer for Owen Meany is truly brilliant and an excellent book to read.
Rating:
Summary: Timeless
Review: I have read most of John Irving's books - except the !50 Pound Marriage and Son of a Son of the Circus. It is the best book he has written in my experience and the best book I have ever read. I have read it and re-read it until I had to buy another copy. And I have read the replacement copy also. I am not particularly religious although I was raised with the teachings of a christian faith. So I hope that I offend no one by paraphrasing John Irving - "Owen Meany" is my bible. Over and over and over again it is my bible. It will always be my bible and I will always read it. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite book, my favorite character
Review: Owen Meany still has the power to move me to tears, three years after I read the book. Owen is one of the most fully realized characters in fiction, both in what we know about him, and the unknowable, mysterious quality that is so much like a real human being. One reviewer has commented that the book unfolds, like John's memory, like our memories, out of order, jumbled, and only making sense in the longer view. I suppose that the book has become part of my own memory streams of love, loss, humor, relationship..., and thus triggers strong emotional responses. My 17 year old son is now engrossed in the book, and it is like reading it for the first time, all over again, as we talk about it.
Rating:
Summary: An example of how NOT to write
Review: This is not a bad novel, but far from a good one. John Irving suffers from the cardinal sin of writing: He doesn't know his limitations or tries to force through if he does. In short he tries too hard. Irving's strength lies in comic situational writings but he is a mediocre "structuralist" and worse "philosopher." The "higher" aspect of the novel, to use the famous Holden Caufield category, reads SO phony. Owen Meany is supposed to be the smart guy, the precocious Christ-like figure in the novel. But his overly eager and shallow wisecracks make him sound like an idiot. It would be okay, if he is an idiot in the Prince Myshikin genre, but no, he is in fact a moron. Some specific complaints: 1) The mourning for Johnny Wheelbright's mother. Those dropping of baseball cards and giving of the armidillo read so contrived and out of the natural range of human emotion (unless you are an idiot). Without our dear didactic teacher Daniel Needham, who would have thought this is a gesture of friendship given and anticipated? And the lectures Irving puts in here and many other places betray his fundamental weakness to show rather than tell. 2) The so-called symbolism of all these armlessness, armidillo, fatherlessness, and so are just a writer out of creativity appealing to philosophy. I don't find them interesting at all. 3) Irving has a mean streak of abusing dead animals. Hester the Molester is funny the first time you read it, but repeating it a couple of times, it makes you suspect that Irving REALLY wants someone to pull his doink in the closet. So much ranting for today. Got a real job to do.
Rating:
Summary: THE MOST PROFOUND (AND BEST) BOOK I'VE READ
Review: SO I SAID TO MY BROTHER, I WANTED TO SEE SIMON BIRCH, HE SAID WAIT I HAVE SOMETHING I WANT YOU TO READ........... I CAN'T SAY THAT IS HAS CHANGED THE WAY I THINK, BECAUSE I UNDERSTAND WHAT OWEN FEELS ABOUT BEING AN INSTUMENT OF GOD, BUT NOW I HAVE A MORE INTENSE FEELING ABOUT MY LIFE AND MORE TRUST THAT GOD KNOWS WHAT HE'S DOING AND THERE IS A PLAN. MY BROTHER HAS TWO COPIES OF THE BOOK AND HE'S READ IT 6 TIMES. IN THE ONE TIME THAT I READ A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY, I PICKED UP SOME SIMILARITIES BETWEEN CHRIST AND OWEN THAT MY BROTHER MISSED. IT WAS STIMULATING HAVING THOSE DISCUSSIONS WITH MY BROTHER, SO I CAN THANK JOHN IRVING FOR ANOTHER THING (BESIDES THE BOOK), A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE WITH MY BROTHER. I CAN HONESTLY SAY MY LIFE WILL BE DIFFERENT. I CAN ONLY IMAGINE HOW JOHN IRVING FEELS BY THE RESPONSE OF THE PEOPLE WHO READ HIS BOOK. THANK YOU JOHN IRVING
Rating:
Summary: A GREAT READ
Review: OKAY THIS IS NOT OWEN MEANY, BUT I LOVED THIS. A GREAT READ FOR ANY1 @ ALL LEVELS. I AM 12 (WELL ALMOST 13) READ THIS BOOK NOW.
Rating:
Summary: Mind blowing.
Review: Until the day I die I will never forget this book. Amazing, totally amazing
Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I'VE READ
Review: John Irving's development of the main characters in this book was so fabulous that I didn't want the book to end. What a moving story about the importance of faith. I will never forget the ending and I look forward to reading this book again in the future. I only wish there were more Owens in the real world.
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