A Prayer for Owen Meany

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Summary: Wonderful book, but a tribute to Deptford Trilogy
Review: This IS my all time favorite book, so you can imagine how shocked I was to hear a fellow library student insinuating that the book frankly copies some themes from The Deptford Trilogy by (well known Canadian author) Robertson Davies. There are lots of similarities (fatal snowball...), but no one else seems to mention this n their reviews, so I just thought I'd bring it up. I guess Irving is just paying tribute to Davies. It doesn't matter though, Irving can still run circles around Davies when it comes to getting the reader involved with his characters!

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Summary: Even 17 year olds can love this book!
Review: I know a guy sort of like Owen Meany. He has a really funny voice, is very religious, and always wants to hang out with you. He doesn't know the date of his death, or is the "Christ Child" like Owen was. Nobody could ever be like Owen. He was "one-of-a-kind" alright. I am 17, and I couldn't believe how much I enjoyed this book. I have never got so caught up into a book, especially one that deals with religion. As an atheist, I am very critical about religion. But Owen showed me that I shouldn't always be so critical because I really don't know everything. I recommend that all kids should read this book. It will make you think twice about what you are doing with your life, and it will also help you understand your parents more!

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Summary: This is one of those life changing books.
Review: I love Owen Meany. I love Dan Needham. I love Johnny Wheelright. I love Tabby and grandma. The characters are the way people ought to be; full of life and conviction. The book is a lesson in faith.

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Summary: Devastating !!!
Review: I have read so many books in my 45 years, and like one of the other reviewers, am mad it took me so long to find A Prayer for Owen Meany. Mr. Irving creates such a real, richly populated, and intriguing world, that after finishing it, I am impacted with two devastating realities:

The first is that the world doesn't really exist. Heavens! Everyone of these characters deserves to live, and I want to know them.

Then the next depressing impact is that I do not think I will ever again read a book as enjoyable and absorbing as this one. I am almost mad that Mr. Irving has written such a captivating novel that I have nothing left to look forward too. How can there ever be another novel that so completely captivates and absorbs you. If there is ever going to be a "Great American Novel," this surely is it!

Thank you Mr. Irving for A prayer for Owen Meany! Curse you Mr. Irving for A Prayer for Owen Meany!!

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Summary: Dull, excitiing, dull, exciting.
Review: There are three outstanding scenes in A Prayer For Owen Meany. There is the manger scene of the annual Christmas pageant of Gravesend Academy.. there is the"kidnaping" of the school shrink's VW, and there is the graduation convocation of Owen Meany's graduating class, for which Owen was scheduled to be valedictorian. The first two are uproariously funny , the third poignant and sad--enough so to make a cynical reviewer almost cry.

This is not to suggest the rest of John Irving's work is not worthy of pursuit. It is, if for no other reason than that Shaw is a superb writer. Stodgy, perhaps; given to expounding on unnecessary detail, often; confusing with frequently shifting flashbacks, certainly. But here is a character-driven story, and no character is so minor that he/she escapes Shaw's detailed description. He has keen insights into his characters, from a Little League baseball manager crying at a funeral, to an insensitive police chief ignoring human suffering in his search for a missing baseball, through a rural red neck prowling an airport with bayonet and hand grenade.

The novel follows the growth and maturation of two 10-year-olds through primary, high school, college and beyond. this does not make for exciting reading. The pages tend to resemble the Good Grey Times. There is very little action, few thrills, no stalking ax-murderers. there is abundant political comment--on Reagan, on Kennnedy, on Lyndon Johnson, on Viet Nam and Korea. Shaw's characters even voice opinions on movies of the times, television programing, mandatory attendance at Sunday church services, and the protagonist's frustration with news and newspapers. Hardly the stuff of a Dean Koontz horror tale or a Robert parker chronicle of a Spenser/Hawk adventure, or a John Grisham courtroom thriller.

Here is a story of love and friendship, of good and evil, of coming of age. Here is a novel with a final sentence that leaves the reader with a heart-rendering jolt. Twice during ! the reading of Owen Meany this reviewer didn't want to finish the book. The first time (actually this happened several times) I simply wanted to quit out of sheer boredom. the other time--this happened during the final 150 pages--I simply wanted the author to go on and on withthese magnificent characters.

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Summary: In the Top 3 of all books I have read
Review: This book is quite possibly the most moving look at relationships between best friends. It also serves to question what Christ, which Owen Meany obviously represents, knew about his inevitable death.

Be ready to spend time with these characters; even the most minor characters demand your attention.

Religion, as mentioned before, is a key focus of the book. Faith becomes the cross which Johnny, the narrator, and Owen, the books namesake, must bear. The journey they take is well worth the destination

The hardest part of the book, for all those unfamiliar with Irving or Dickins (of whom he uncannily reminds me), is the deep history of the New England area in which the story takes place. Also be ready to jump from the present and past with little or no warning.

There are neat scenes that make the book memorable, such as the loss of the narrator's finger. These little snipets, like the snapshots offered in "Blue Highways," by William Least Heat Moon, compile into a rich photo album for the reader to revisit time and time again.

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Summary: Incredible!
Review: I have read this book three times (so far) and have found more and more to love each time. Owen's self-acceptance, lack of self-consciousness, and determinedness to stand up for what he wants and what he believes combine to create an unforgettable and inspiring character. Owen pushes and prodes each character, and the reader, to re-think their opinions and assumptions about people and the world. Together, Owen and Johnny serve as a window into the absurdity of the grown-up world, where adults try to live by arbitrary and at times non-sensical rules. Adult Johnny's commentary from Canada keeps this perspective, as he shares his thoughts on his fellow teachers, friends, and of course the US. This is not only a must-read, but a must-read-again-and-again.

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Summary: A life-changing read!
Review: I used to think I was a writer until I read this novel. Since I finished Owen Meany I have not been able to complete a first draft of any work of fiction...but the inflation of my insecurities about writing is a small price to pay for discovering this masterpiece by John Irving. Buy it, read it, and like the rest of us, fall in love with Owen Meany. Without a doubt it is the finest novel I have ever read and will ever read.

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Summary: The Dickens of the 20th Century
Review: Okay, people, the history of late 20th century literature has been decided. It is my belief that John Irving will be known as one of the great novelists of all time. This book, so rich in characterization, in plot and in substance can only be compared (and has been) to Dickens. I have never read such an incredibly captivating and thoroughly moving piece of work. If you haven't read this, read it. If you've read it, read it again. I didn't want to finish the book, because I didn't want to leave this incredible world. Let Owen Meany, Johnny Wheelwright and their friends and family into your life. It will change you.

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Summary: A great American Novel
Review: "A Prayer For Owen Meany" is a tour de force not merely in its ability deeply to affect the reader through its admittedly manipulative prose, but in (something not mentioned in the other 193 reviews on this page) its allegorical tracking of another great American novel, Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter." Irving's modernization of Hester Prynne et al. with its overt overlay of more direct allegory to the story of Jesus Christ is a stunning achievement.