Rating: 
Summary: Single best fiction I have ever read. Life-changing.
Review: Within the first two pages of reading, you are totally emersed into the life and characters of Owen Meaney. Like many of Irvings characters, they tend to leap right out from the page and take you with them.
Owen Meany, like many of us, is a character that can not fit
a standard definition. His physical, as well as his emotional make-up are the hooks by which all other characters and situations hang.
Meaney is a story, it is a journey, it is a spiritual
experience that will touch anyone who reads it. It is a
roller-coaster ride of fun, while pulling you into surprising turns with an unexpected ending. There are no holes in this story--it is beautifully tied together.
Rating:
Summary: A Benchmark novel by a truely gifted teller of stories!
Review: This is an enormously entertaining book and the most moving novel that I have ever read. The ending (particularly the last sentence!) was inspired. I've read other Irving novels and enjoyed them, but nothing like Owen Meany. There's a common thread in these 'Reader Reviews' that everyone recommends this book highly. Read it, and you too will become a convert and spread the gospel according to St. Owen!
Rating:
Summary: Contemporary Literature at its Finest
Review: Every few years a book comes along to remind me that literature still matters. A Prayer for Owen Meaney did just that when it was released seven years ago. Since that time , I have re-read the book seven times and reccomended it to everyone I've come into contact with. Irving has produced the finest book of his career, a book that holds your emotions in the palm of its hand and releases them at the whim of the author. I was in tears the first time I read the last thirty pages. This book should be next to the bed of every lover of literature worldwide
Rating:
Summary: If you read any book in your life, read this one.
Review: This book is perfection, drawing you in from the outset and tying you to the characters as securel as you are to yourfriends and relatives. Whenever the book comes up in conversation, I discover another rabid Irving fan, and most agree that this is the best book they've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Best book I've ever read
Review: This is in my opinion the greatest American Novel of our time. Irving strings together a sensitive, humorous, thought-provoking plot with brilliantly crafted dialogue and narrative description. He leaves you with many questions as you read the book, all of which are masterfully answered in the memorable climactic scene
Rating:
Summary: A literary treat - Irving at his best.
Review: This book captures a rare and special friendship between two boys.
The character of Owen Meany is powerful and extraordinary. The storyline is extremely compelling with a dramatic ending.
And like all great books, this one is impeccably written and completely absorbing. I wanted to read it for ever....
Rating:
Summary: A Prayer for Owen Meany, Irvings Best!
Review: A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving's novel about the life of the son of a granite miner, draws you in and takes
you on an emotional adventure. From a boy stumbling
through adolesence to becoming a man, Owen Meany lives a
trying life that has you crossing your fingers and holding
your breath throughout the book. Many consider "Owen Meany"
to be Irving's best work. While I still consider Hotel New Hampshire his best work, Owen is a very close second.
Rating:
Summary: His mostly deeply felt if not best paced
Review: The worn-out narrator lets the tempo down compared with the brilliant third-person narration of, e.g., "The Cider House Rules", but the trade-off is the emotional intensity goes up. Irving is great and this is one of his best.
Rating: 
Summary: I am not amused
Review: This book is obscene, and unsuitable for children of any age. It uses the 'F' word through out the book, and features numerous sex scenes involving teenagers, relatives (incest), and in one case, contemplates sex between a teenager and a married adult.Furthermore, this book mocks and belittles Christianity, throughout ... calling Christians 'idiots,' 'simpletons' and 'self righteous fanatics.' At one point, it refers to Jesus disciples, using profanity ... And takes the specific words of Jesus, ... from his Sermon on the Mount ... and says they're untrue. It also mocks the Virgin birth of Christ, implying Jesus mother was retarded ... (which seems to be a recurring theme of Irving's books (World According to Garp also contains a virgin birth mockery.) The book also contains several Manger 'scenes' where the 'baby Jesus' is depicted by an adolescent Owen Meany, --lustful and with an 'erection.' This book is technically 'fiction' ...but in reality, it uses a fictitious theme, to attack real life characters ...primarily Christians, and the Republican Party ... (It refers to Ronald Reagan as a 'young drunk,' for example.) This book was assigned to my 15 year old daughter, in her 'honors' english class, at a public high school in Virginia. It is on the approved reading list in another school district near by. It is not anything any parent would want their child reading in school (or anywhere else for that matter). (...) (A parent will be shocked by the frequent obscenity.) In a country where teenage pregnancy is on the rise, and HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases rampant ... we don't need to be purposely focussing our children on such carnal desires ... Finally, this book has been characterized as 'humorous' by readers and critics ... However, you will only find it humorous ... if you don't mind the most sacred Christian figures being mocked and belittled ... I for one, am not laughing ... Instead, I recommend reading: Democracy in America, by Alexis de Tocqueville; The Federalist Papers; Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith; Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis; Proverbs by Solomon; Matthew Chapter 6; 1 John (The whole book); and Sources of Our Liberties, by Perry and Cooper.
Rating:
Summary: "Prayer for Owen Meany" or "How to Laugh+Cry Simultaneously"
Review: "A Prayer for Owen Meany" is a book you will never forget. You will never forget because of Johnny Wheelwright's narration, which takes you on an emotional rollercoaster - from the laugh-out-loud humour of Owen's practical jokes and his part in the Christmas plays, to the immense grief of some of the most moving literary deaths you will ever read about. You will never forget because of the visual nature of this book which is filled with cinematic images and precise detail. You will never forget because of the extraordinary sense of fate, which means that every event in this carefully crafted novel happens for a reason - from the titular hero's unusual role in the death of his best friend's mother, to the symbolism of an amputated childhood toy. You will never forget because of the remarkably believable characterisation of Tabby Wheelwright, Johnny's late mother; of Lewis Merrill, the pitiful minister whose faith wavers constantly; of Dan Needham, Johnny's down-to-earth step-father whose first present eventually meant more than he could ever have imagined. But most of all, you will never forget because of Owen Meany. Johnny Wheelwright begins the novel by claiming that he owes his faith to Owen Meany, and by the end of the book, this suggestion no longer seems irrational or exaggerated. Instead, we have come to some kind of understanding of Owen - both as a human being and as a creature who is not quite of this earth. His voice, the voice of "all those murdered mice", is the voice of a child with a virgin birth, the voice of a child with an unusual talent for seeing into the future. But more than that, he is infinitely touchable, infinitely loveable. By the end, you too will believe because of Owen Meany.
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