A Prayer for Owen Meany

Rating:
Summary: Owen Meany Is Everything I Wish I Could Be
Review: The book A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving is the best book I have ever read. Irving has made a wonderful and sincere character in Owen Meany. The extraordinary life Owen lived is accounted by his best friend, John Wheelwright. The manner in which he is portrayed, made me honestly grieve Owen's departure from this world. My grief was equaled only in the fact that this wonderful piece of literature had ended. I cannot express my feelings, the love I have for this book. Thus, is the poverty of words.
The story itself starts out in a little town called Gravesend, in New Hampshire. There, John lives with his grandmother, and mother in an old mansion on Front Street. Owen lives with his father and mother, outside of the granite quarry that his father runs. John lives a normal life with his best friend, until one day, Owen accidentally hits a foul ball that kills John's mother. From then on, John's life is not the normal, 'picket fence' happy ending Americans dream of. His is a story of finding yourself with the lose of all that is important to you.
This book deals a lot with the issue of faith. John finds faith because of Owen, and the way he lived. Owen was so sure of himself. He did everything with a purpose, and that purpose no one could turn from.
Irving asks the question through this book, if it is possible for one person to mean so much to you that even when he is not there, you act as though he is. Joey Cape, lead singer for a band called Lagwagon, put it best in his song, 'Owen Meany' when he said, 'I learn it's meaning from you in life and death and continue ... but faith is just a silent tribute mine is just desperate act give him back.'
I recommend this book with my whole heart. I never thought it was possible for a fiction book to change someone's life. Then I read A Prayer for Owen Meany.

Rating:
Summary: Intelligent and Engaging
Review: This is the second book of Irving's that I've read, "The World According to Garp" being the first. A Prayer For Owen Meany is slower than Garp and not as roll-on-the-ground-funny (although it does has its hilarious moments: the Christmas Pageant brought tears to my eyes I laughed so hard). In "Garp", Irving asks: why can't something serious be funny as well. In "Owen Meany", he continues along that vein and ends up tackling the issue of faith in the modern world. As other reviewers have said, Irving is not preachy, nor is he arrogant. He is cynical (or perhaps just honest?) about organized religion and the ending of the book is open to several interpretations.

A Prayer For Owen Meany is a book about faith, but it is also a book about friendship. In addition, Irving also delves into politics and analyzes the Vietnam War and the Reagan era. Even if you have little interest in religion or politics, do not let that discourage you from reading this book. "Owen Meany" is a truly universal tale and a masterpiece of modern literature. Don't miss out on reading this book if you haven't read it already: Irving will blow you away.

Rating:
Summary: I love Owen Meany
Review: This is a book that very entertaining while providing serious social commentary. The main theme is the nature of faith, and the various characters' orientations towards that theme are examined, from Owen's belief that he is an instrument of God and that nothing happens by accident to Father Merrill's perspective that doubt is the essence of faith. The ending was not exactly a surprise in that as the reader you suspect all along that Owen is indeed what he believes himself to be; however, it was a pleasant surprise to see how all the loose ends tied together. There is a lot here that can be found in other Irving books: setting, symbolic amputation, the spiritual growth of the main characters. This book, however, can perhaps be recommended over the others due to the strength of the character of OWEN MEANY. Also, for those who don't care for all the sex in some of the other books by Irving, Owen Meany is also for you- you won't find much sex here. Overall Owen Meany is a wonderful read, with it's main strength being it's power to make you laugh while at the same time make you think.

Rating:
Summary: A litte disapointed
Review: This book was fun to read. The people are so believable, and so real which is what I loved most about the book. I could find Owen's sacrifice much more believable if the author hadn't paid so much attention to ridiculing religion in general. I did go away from this book with a since of loss, because I became attached to Owen and his personality, he just grows on you so. I was sad to see how Johnny becomes so ambivilant that he has let Owen's sacrifice and the world pass him by instead of concentrating on the joys of really living.

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Summary: Spirituality is sometimes found where you least expect it
Review: How and in what terms are someone's faith and spirituality defined? How can you tell if you have them or if you don't? How important is forgiveness in Christianity? How can lingering anger and resentment become driving forces in someone's life?

These and other questions are raised by John Irving in his novel "A Prayer for Owen Meany." The novel is a subtle psychological/philosophical treatise on theology, religion and life. It is a worthwhile read concerning an individual's contemplation of one's soul, its meaning and the direction that they feel their life should take. A good book on how people can devise their own spiritual blueprint.

Rating:
Summary: Clever and Engaging
Review: Nothing much to say- an essential for any fan of John Irving. Well-written and enjoyable throughout.

Rating:
Summary: The second best book that I have ever read
Review: I've read quite a few books in my day. This one currently ranks #2. Sitting atop the heap at the time of this review is...drum roll... Rabbit, Run by John Updike. The others in my top five (in no particular order) are The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet, A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, and The Shipping News by E. Anne Proulx.

Rating:
Summary: Owen is Interesting. John is a Looser
Review: Book starts great. By the time you get to the middle, it gets boring. Who cares what goes on in Toronto!!!!
All questions are answered in last chapter. Even with that it's anticlimactic. Not sure I'd recommend it. Definately not one of John Irving's better books.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent study in unintended consequences
Review: Perhaps the greatest compliment I can give _A Prayer for Owen Meany_ is that, almost two weeks after finishing the novel, I am still working on the themes which Irving brought out in his work. Irving weaves an intricate tale of fascinating and unusual characters who populate the more innocent years of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Owen Meany is the strangest of these characters, but he is obviously gifted, and sees the world in a refreshingly odd way. His life, however, is destined to be cut short, as we learn very early in the novel (lest you think I'm revealing the end of the book).

The work resonates with anger and bitterness at the United States' involvement in Vietnam and other foreign wars. Interspersed with the main narrative are "flash-forwards" to the present (1987), wherein the narrator laments American leaders' decision to sell arms to Iran to support Nicaraguan contras. The message is clear: leaders who make these decisions, often only to enhance themselves, also serve to destroy the lives of the unknown special people, those like Owen Meany.

Rating:
Summary: A Prayer For Owen Meany- a review
Review: In this novel of pure genius, owen Meany a young boy captivated by baseball and who believes that he is the instrument of God accidentally kills the mother of his best friend, average American John Wheelright, with a baseball. Through John we are able to examine the life of owen; his unusual voice and strange tendencies in the period before and after this incident. Only at the very end does Irving allow us to understand, though not fully, the reasons behind his fascination with Mrs. Wheelright, a well practised basketball move and a certain armadillo. If any novel is worth reading let this be the one. Definately Irvings finest work.
- Alice, 15