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Description edit
This is John Irving's most comic novel, yet Owen Meany is Mr. Irving's most heartbreaking character. John Irving's novel, which inspired the 1998 Jim Carrey movie Simon Birch, is his most popular book in Britain, and perhaps the oddest Christian mystic novel since Flannery O'Connor's work.... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
Owen Meany is a dwarfish boy with a strange voice and believes that he is an instrument of God. He is the best friend of the narrator, John Wheelwright.
Characters/People edit
- Owen Meany: A small boy whose voice will never change and never develop. He believes he is God's instrument and nothing deters the reader from agreeing.
- John "Johnny" Wheelwright: An all-American boy, the narrator of the story. He was born the illegitimate son of a small town's privileged and favorite daughter. Despite these less-than-perfect origins, he is a normal and happy boy with few aspirations, who really only stands out because of his best friend, Owen. "Joseph" in a school pageant describes him very well.
- Hester Eastman: The youngest of John's three cousins and the only girl in her family, a beautiful tomboy with sex appeal and a strong will
- Tabitha "Tabby" Wheelwright: John's vivacious and beautiful mother. She is devoted to her son and steadfastly refuses to reveal the identity of his father.
- Dan Needham: John's beloved stepfather, a high school theater teacher at Gravesend Academy and director of the Gravesend Players
- Harriet Wheelwright: John's formidable grandmother and the town matriarch
- Martha Wheelwright: Tabby's older sister, a homemaker
- Lewis Merrill: The pastor of Gravesend's Congregationalist church, a man of conflicting beliefs who believes that doubt is not the enemy of faith, but the core of it. John and Tabby attend his church until she marries Dan.
- Alfred Eastman: Owner of Eastman Lumber Company and husband of Martha
- Noah Eastman: The oldest of Johnny's three cousins.
- Simon Eastman: The middle child of Johnny's three cousins
- May: Maid in Eastman's house
- Firewater: A Boxer dog belonging to the Eastman family
- Lydia: Harriet's servant who loses the use of her legs before the story begins. She continues to live with the Wheelwrights and becomes Harriet's closest friend.
- Randolph White: An arrogant businessman-turned-headmaster of Gravesend Academy who butts heads with Owen during his time in high school
- Dick Jarvits: A nihilistic boy whose brother died in Vietnam - he is contemptuous and waiting for the day he can legally kill people by signing up for the army.
- Warden Holt: Add a description of this character.
- Ronald Reagan
- Amanda Dowling: A manly woman who strives to completely extinguish sex role stereotypes
- Bette Davis
- Mr. Brinker-Smith
- Mrs. Meany: Owen's mentally handicapped mother who sits and stares off into the distance
- Canon Mackie
- Mr. Chickering
- Robert McNamara
- Sagamore: The Wheelwright's neighbor's dog that got hit by a diaper truck and was buried in Johnny's grandmother's rose garden
- Canon Campbell
- Sam White
- Mrs. Walker
- Graham McSwiney
- Dominic Poggio
- Larry Lish
- Pinky Scammon
- Ginger Brinker-Smith
- Mary Magdalene
- Buster Freebody: The man who played piano for John's mother (the Lady in Red)
- Claire Clooney
- Richard Nixon
- Mr. Foster
- Emery Hurd
- Julius Caesar
- Charles Dickens
- Chiang Kai-shek
- Scrooge
- Major Rawls
- Mr. Morrison: The "cowardly mailman"
- Katherine Keeling: The headmistress of John's school in Canada and his close friend
- JFK
- Mr. Kenmore
- Harry Hoyt
- Barb Wiggin: Wife of Rector Wiggin; former stewardess
- Harold Crosby
- Eleanor Pribst
- Germaine: Superstitious house maid for the Wheelwrights; hired to care for Lydia
- Teddybear Kilgour
- George Brent
- Mrs. Reagan
- Dudley Wiggin: Rector of the Episcopalian church; former pilot
- Liberace: Harriet Wheelwright and Owen Meany's favorite character on TV
- Richard Burton
- Ethel: Maid of the Wheelwrights
- Joseph Cotten
- Van Arsdale
- Yvonne Hewlett
- Tess
- Jean Simmons
- Nick Carraway
- Charlie Keeling
- Dr. Dolder: Psychiatrist at Gravesend Academy; owns a Volkswagon Bug
- Sandra Darcy
- Hank Bauer
- Timothy Findley
- Herb Lish
- Archie Thorndike: Old headmaster of Gravesend Academy
- Mr. Fish: Neighbor of the Wheelwrights; thespian in local theatrical productions; owner of Sagamore, the dog killed by a diaper truck
- Mrs. Merrill
- Watahantowet
- Giovanni Giordano
- Thomas Hardy: The author; John writes his masters thesis on him
- Trudeau
- Ben Pike: Police Cheif of Gravesend
- Marilyn Monroe
- Potter
- Mr. Arthur Dowling
- Major General LaHoad
- William Westmoreland
- Mrs. Kenmore
- Donny Kenmore
- Heather Brocklebank
- Ngo Dinh Nhu
- Leslie Ann Grew
- Robertson Davies
- Caroline O'Day
- Raskolnikov
- Luke
- Mitzy Lish
- Oliver North
- Sinatra
- Mrs. Brocklebank
- Mr. Peabody
- St. Paul
- ADLAI STEVENSON
- Mrs. Hoyt
- Maugham
- Mrs. Satterthwaite
- Johnson
- Maxwell Taylor
- Ruby Newell
- Mr. Tubulari
- Mr. Larkin
- Debby LaRocca
- Jeremiah
- Charlton Heston
- Mary Beth Baird: Plays the virgin Mary in the Christmas pageant
- Buzzy Thurston
- Orwell
- Tolstoy
- Humphrey Bogart
- Robert Frost
- Paul O. Meany: Owen Meany's full name
- Mr. Early
- Meyerson
- Maureen Early
- Johnny Wheelwright
- Mother
Quotes edit
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“When someone you love dies, and you're not expecting it, you don't lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces over a long time -- the way the mail stops coming, and her scent fades from the pillows and even from the clothes in her closet and drawers. Gradually, you accumulate the parts of her that are gone. Just when the day comes -- when there's a particular missing part that overwhelms you with the feeling that she's gone, forever -- there comes another day, and another specifically missing part.”
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“The only way you get Americans to notice anything is to tax them or draft them or kill them.”
-
“He also knew that rivals are best unmanned by being ignored.”
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“I’m not afraid, but I’m very nervous.”
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“As often as I feel certain that God exits, I feel as often at a loss to say what difference it makes – that He exists – or even: that to believe in God, which I do, raises more questions than it presents answers. Thus, when I am feeling my most faithful, I also feel full of a few hard questions that I would like to put to God – I mean, critical questions of the How-Can-He, How-Could-He, How-Dare-You variety.””
Lewis Merrill -
“O God--please give him back! I shall keep asking You.”
John Wheelwright -
“Your boredom is your problem <...> It's your lack of imagination that bores you.”
Owen Meany -
“If you're a victim, the world will use you.”
Owen Meany -
“I'm doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice--not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.”
John
Setting & Locations edit
- Gravesend, New Hamphire: The town where John Wheelwright and Owen Meany grow up
- Toronto, Canada: John's present home
- Gravesend Academy: A private boys' school
- Sawyer Depot: Fictional location in New Hampshire where the Eastmans live
- Loveless Lake: Fictional Lake where Eastmans keep a boathouse
First Sentence edit
I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice-not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.
Table of Contents edit
Chapter 1 - The Foul Ball
Chapter 2 - The Armadillo
Chapter 3 - The Angel
Chapter 4 - The Little Lord Jesus
Chapter 5 - The Ghost of the Future
Chapter 6 - The Voice
Chapter 7 - The Dream
Chapter 8 - The Finger
Chapter 9 - The Shot
Themes & Symbolism edit
Series & Lists edit
This book is in Big Fat Books. (community list)
This is book 76 of 100 in ALA's Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009. (authoritative list)
This is book 112 of 213 in Best English-Language Fiction of the 20th Century. (authoritative list)
This is book 270 of 1286 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)
This is book 44 of 95 in Telegraph Top 100 Books, 2008. (authoritative list)
This is book 52 of 97 in Waterstone's Top 100 Books of the 20th Century. (authoritative list)
This is book 28 of 98 in Modern Library's 100 Best Novels: Reader's List. (authoritative list)
This book is in Book Lover's Cook Book, The. (authoritative list)
This book is in 100 Fantabulous Book Challenge. (community list)
This book is in Random Synapses: 100 Book Reading Challenge (2011). (community list)
This book is in Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read. (authoritative list)
This is book 1 of 49 in Amazon Book Club Picks. (authoritative list)
This is book 28 of 200 in BBC 'Big Read' Top 200 Novels, 2003. (authoritative list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- John Irving (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: William Morrow
Country: USA
Publication Date: March 1989
ISBN: 0-688-08760-4
Page Count: 640
Publisher: William Morrow
Country: USA
Publication Date: March 1989
ISBN: 0-688-08760-4
Page Count: 640
Awards edit
- BBC's Big Read (April 2003, #28)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: PS3559.R8 P7 1989
- Dewey: 813.54
Notes for Parents edit
Reading Level: Young AdultsGreat for young adults on up, also younger teens with good reading skills. Some foul language and sexual discussions unsuitable for some people
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Links to Supplemental Material edit
Movie Connections edit
- Simon Birch (IMDb): Loosely based on this novel.
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