'A Prayer for Owen Meany' by John Irving is a novel that follows the story of two young boys, Owen Meany and John Wheelwright, growing up in Gravesend, New Hampshire. The pivotal moment in the story occurs when a foul ball hit by one of the boys during a Little League baseball game results in the death of the other boy's mother. This event sets off a chain of extraordinary occurrences, with Owen Meany believing himself to be an instrument of God and having unwavering faith in his destiny. The novel beautifully portrays their friendship, the mysteries surrounding Owen Meany's fate and John Wheelwright's paternity, and delves into themes of faith, God, fate, and predestination.
John Irving's writing style in 'A Prayer for Owen Meany' is described as roomy, intelligent, exhilarating, and darkly comic, reminiscent of Dickensian scope. The novel features unforgettable characters, such as the titular character Owen Meany, who is small in stature but full of confidence and foresight. The story weaves together powerful themes of predestination and faith with compelling characters and a rare sense of humor, making it a deeply moving and thought-provoking read.
Genres:
Tropes/Plot Devices:
Topics:
Notes:
Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings include themes of death, religious beliefs, and references to the Vietnam War which may be upsetting to some readers.
From The Publisher:
"A remarkable novel. . . . A Prayer for Owen Meany is a rare creation in the somehow exhausted world of late twentieth-century fiction-it is an amazingly brave piece of work . . . so extraordinary, so original, and so enriching. . . . Readers will come to the end feeling sorry to leave [this] richly textured and carefully wrought world."
- STEPHEN KING, Washington Post
A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick
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.
In the summer of 1953, two eleven-year-old boys-best friends-are playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy's mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn't believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul ball is extraordinary.
"Roomy, intelligent, exhilarating, and darkly comic . . . Dickensian in scope . . . Quite stunning and very ambitious." - Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Brilliantly cinematic . . . Irving shows considerable skill as scene after scene mounts to its moving climax." - ALFRED KAZIN, New York Times
Ratings (102)
Incredible (32) | |
Loved It (35) | |
Liked It (19) | |
It Was OK (6) | |
Did Not Like (8) | |
Hated It (2) |
Reader Stats (196):
Read It (105) | |
Want To Read (64) | |
Did Not Finish (5) | |
Not Interested (22) |
1 comment(s)
I finished this book on the subway this morning, and I almost started crying. On a crowded subway train full of cranky, not-morning-person New Yorkers.
So good.
It has some of Irving's familiar cast of characters - most notably the angry, large-ish young woman. There's a hint of incest sprinkled in there. The scene describing the aftermath of a high school prank made me laugh out loud at a book for the first time in forever. But mostly, this book sets you up for an amazing ending. Irving does some interesting things with the timeline that, while confusing in the middle, really pay off in the end.
What can you read after
A Prayer for Owen Meany?
About the Author:
John Irving was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1942, and he once admitted that he was a 'grim' child. Although he excelled in English at school and knew by the time he graduated that he wanted to write novels, it was not until he met a young Southern novelist named John Yount, at the University of New Hampshire, that he received encouragement. 'It was so simple,' he remembers. 'Yount was the first person to point out that anything I did except writing was going to be vaguely unsatisfying.' The World According to Garp, which won the National Book Award in 1980, was John Irving's fourth novel and his first international bestseller; it also became a George Roy Hill film. Tony Richardson wrote and directed the adaptation for the screen of The Hotel New Hampshire (1984). Irving's novels are now translated into thirty-five foreign languages, and he has had nine international bestsellers. Worldwide, the Irving novel most often called "an American classic" is A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989), the portrayal of an enduring friendship at that time when the Vietnam War had its most divisive effect on the United States. In 1992, Mr. Irving was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma. (He competed as a wrestler for twenty years, until he was thirty-four, and coached the sport until he was forty-seven). In 2000, Irving won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Cider House Rules - a Lasse Hallström film with seven Academy Award nominations. Tod Williams wrote and directed The Door in the Floor, the 2004 film adapted from Mr. Irving's ninth novel, A Widow for One Year. Avenue of Mysteries is John Irving's fourteenth novel. John Irving has three children and lives in Vermont and Toronto.
When you click the Amazon link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commision, at no cost to you.
