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Summary: Simply the best book I've read...
Review: Have you ever read a book & known when you were done that you will never forget it? No? Then read this one. Owen Meany is the best written character in literature. He's... human.This book almost cost me my job when I stayed up through the night to finish & forgot about a client meeting the next day. I was honest with my client & she forgave me because it's her favorite too!
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Summary: IRVING'S FINEST
Review: This is the closest a North American novel has come to capturing the spirit of Magical Realism. It's a mind-boggling book which defies synopsising. It seems (to me) that this novel was Irving's response to 'The Tin Drum' (the finest modern German novel, which demands to be read). The protagonists are very similar, even sharing the same initials. What do other readers think?
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Summary: A book so good it makes you embarrassed to read it in public
Review: When I read OWEN, I found myself in a donut shop in San Francisco at a very busy hour. Before I knew what was happening, I started crying uncontrollably. How embarrassing! I ran home to then spend the last hundred pages or so in weepy hysterics. The mirror showed me a mess when I was done. I just know they'll destroy it with the upcoming movie.
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Summary: Literary brilliance. Christian Perspective.
Review: Irving's work captures the heart of a lost America -- of forgotten ideals and beliefs -- that there is indeed a higher power, with an eternal plan -- complete with pain and suffering and armadillos. Irving's symbolic epic of America's youth trapped within changing times juxtaposes the external struggle for identity and the internal search for spiritual value. From the Little Lord Jesus to the virgin birth of Owen Meany, Irving paints a sometimes haunting portrait of our inner being. Yes, we laugh and we cry along with Johnny, Hester, and Owen -- because we too have been thrown forward into "The Dynamo" of a fast-paced secular lifestyle, where "The Virgin" has been propelled somewhere out of reach, beyond our grasp, and along its own predestined path.
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Summary: Irving's Best Work
Review: I wish I had not already read this book. I want to read it again without knowing how it ends and without having any advance knowledge of the characters. It's been three years since I finished the book -- I'm hesitant to start it again because I'm afraid that it won't be the same the second time around. A Prayer for Owen Meany is definitely Irving's best work. Cider House Rules and Hotel New Hampshire didn't move me to tears like Owen did -- not even Garp lingered in my mind a week after I finished the book. I don't think Irving is The Great Writer of our time, but this particular novel is one of the best I've ever read. This book may not change your life, but it will definitely affect you profoundly.
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Summary: Owen Meany is my hero
Review: This has got to be my all-time favorite book of my literate days. John Irving is the master of quirky and unique literature. The ending is sheer genius. I stumbled across this book in senior English, whining because it was more than 200 pages. Always the optimist, though, I forced myself to read the first page, and then how could I let go of it from that point? I never felt so happy about doing a paper in my whole life. Owen was so intricate, it required more reading just to be able to figure him out, which is something I never fully accomplished. He never ceases to amaze! This book compares with "The World According to Garp", which was equally as entertaining. READ THIS BOOK!!! (GET FAMILAR WITH ALL CAPS BECAUSE THEY ARE DISPERSED THROUGHOUT THE NOVEL TO SHOW OWEN'S MAGNETISM)
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Summary: Irving's best!
Review: This is a book that I reread periodically because it gives me reassurance that there are living writers who will one day be thought of as "masters." I was very interested in seeing that a reader from Tacoma, Washington, read this book from cover to cover thinking it was a John UPDIKE novel, not a John Irving novel. Details are lost on some folks. Fortunately, details aren't lost on Irving. What impresses me most about this novel is the way Irving weaves every detail of his story together. Although you know from the beginning what's going to happen, the book is impossible to put down, and I find myself wishing the story would go on. It's a story told with great compassion, humor, and skill. Everyone should read it.
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Summary: Bravo!
Review: This book has delighted, enlightened, disturbed and mortified me about the usefulness of friends, family and karma (good and bad). Owen Meany is a character to which everyone can relate. He is PROPHETIC and OBNOXIOUS. He is DEEP and CALLOUS. Most importantly, he is HUMAN and has FAITH! Imagine that. I've bought this book for everyone I love. That says it all. Amen.
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Summary: Why do the world's best two writers live in the same place?
Review: I read Owen Meany when it was first published, actually before it was published, as I had managed to get my grubby paws on an uncorrected book proof. It remains the only book to have made me cry - yes tears actually came to the eyes. If you haven't read this book - YOU HAVE TO. "Cider House Rules" is also brill, although I found his latest offering "Son of a circus" a bit drawn out and compared to Owen Meany and Cider House - a bit disapointing. P.S. The OTHER author is Stephen King
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Summary: OWEN MEANY
Review: I read this book about three years ago and absolutely loved it. Just recently, a good friend of mine said he was in the middle of a wonderful book, and low and behold, it was Owen. Thus my brain was triggered and I couldn't get the baseball, armadillo, and tombstone out of my mind, so I looked it up on this site. Just reading the reviews set me to tears, and as soon as I finish writing this review I am going to pick up that diamond among novels and reread it. I LOVE OWEN MEANY.
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