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Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “Owen Meany is short. Unusually short. And he feels like he's destined for greatness. This one will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last line.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It4 of 5 members found this review helpful “I was very disappointed with this novel, which was ruined by Irving's didactic politicism. As the narrator bangs the reader over the head with his anti-Vietnam tirades (you're preachin' to the choir here, mate) , the wonderful character of Owen nearly becomes collateral damage.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Newest Reviews
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“good, funny,
spidey20 wrote this review 2 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
basically about two kids growing up in a small town. had some good twists, and owen meany is a memorable character”
“Really great, tons of twists and definitely a fantastic/inspiring message”
Amy G wrote this review 5 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“I love this book and it is second only to "The Pillars Of The Earth" on my all time favorite books list to date.”
Robert Neely wrote this review 7 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Far from my favorite Irving novel but still rich with characters. This one is a political novel, an historical novel and a love story. Something for everyone, I suppose. Start with "World According To Garp" if you've yet to read anything by this author.”
Bill G wrote this review 11 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A Prayer for Owen Meany (f) co1989, 617pp. Read Feb-2001 (Ballantine Books, Mass Mkt edition)
Peter C wrote this review 12 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Another wonderful novel. Entertaining, compelling, and absorbing. Similar writing as Cider House. Amazing array of characters, each with their associated anecdotes as witnessed and discussed by the narrator, his best friend Owen Meany, and his step-dad. A wealth of intertwining threads overlaid with a dozen unresolved questions. In the final pages of the story threads are tied and solutions revealed. Indeed, on consecutive pages 544-545 many of the author’s commentaries are united: the Viet Nam war, Reagan politics and the Oliver North scandal, the various denominations of the protestant church and the professions of its ministers; the search for the narrator’s father, the symbolism of the armless Mary Magdalene, and others! And yet a few key points remain to be revealed in the subseqent and final 50 pages. Only one ending is possible, only one event remains to be witnessed. ”
“A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
JudithG wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
5 stars
********SPOILEER*****
It would be easy to write a brief synopsis of the story. Two boys grow up together through the 50’s and 60’s. Owen accidentally causes the death of John’s mother. Owen goes on to die a heroic tragic death. This is not much of a spoiler because the ending is so clearly indicated in the first chapter, if not the first sentence.
It’s the structure of this novel that makes it great. The story is revealed in bits and pieces as John searches his memory for the pivotal events of his life. John tells the story as a person might relate a trauma to a psychiatrist. Each telling reveals a bit more of the truth, the meaning of events. It’s as if the entire book is the dénouement of the climax that takes place on the final pages.
John Irving has the ability to write hysterically funny scenes side by side with the deepest tragedy. Anyone who has ever had anything to do with a children’s Christmas pageant will appreciate Owen Meany as the baby Jesus, and I couldn’t stop laughing at the Volkswagen prank. On the other hand, I had to put the book down for a long while after this paragraph:
“I have felt that the yuletide is a special hell for those families who have suffered any loss or who must admit to any imperfection: the so-called spirit of giving can be as greedy as receiving – Christmas is our time to be aware of what we lack, of who is not home.”
This story is going to stay with me for a long time. I need to read it again, just to appreciate how well crafted it is.
”
“Irving writing style is what makes the book. Great read, lots of twists, great humor, can't put down.”
etjada wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This is my favorite Irving book. I found this book to be quite moving. Owen practices his entire life without realizing how important he will be.”
Robert Owens wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
0 of 1 members found this review helpful“Owen Meany is a dwarfish boy with a strange voice who accidentally kills his best friend's mom with a baseball and believes--accurately--that he is an instrument of God, to be redeemed by martyrdom. 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. Irving fans will find much that is familiar: the New England prep-school-town setting, symbolic amputations of man and beast, the Garp-like unknown father of the narrator (Owen's orphaned best friend), the rough comedy. The scene of doltish the doltish headmaster driving a trashed VW down the school's marble staircase is a marvelous set piece. So are the Christmas pageants Owen stars in. But it's all, as Highlights magazine used to put it, "fun with a purpose." When Owen plays baby Jesus in the pageants, and glimpses a tombstone with his death date while enacting A Christmas Carol, the slapstick doesn't cancel the fact that he was born to be martyred. The book's countless subplots add up to a moral argument, specifically an indictment of American foreign policy--from Vietnam to the Contras.
North Shore Country Day School English-10 wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The book's mystic religiosity is steeped in Robertson Davies's Deptford trilogy, and the fatal baseball relates to the fatefully misdirected snowball in the first Deptford novel, Fifth Business. Tiny, symbolic Owen echoes the hero of Irving's teacher Günter Grass's The Tin Drum--the two characters share the same initials. A rollicking entertainment, Owen Meany is also a meditation on literature, history, and God. --Tim Appelo”
