A Prayer for Owen Meany

Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable
Review: Owen Meany will go with me forever. When I first read "A Prayer for Owen Meany," in 1991, my senior year in college, I was unaware someone could get hit so hard by a baseball, they could die. After reading John Wheelwright's mom was killed from a foul baseball hit by Meany, I was shocked. About six months after I'd completed the novel, I ran into a lady, older than myself, I'd known from either an English class we'd had together, or some other class. When I saw her face, I was taken aback. Her face was a mess. There were stitches from her right nostril, all the way up her temple, beside her right eye, and disappearing back into her hairline. There were, I estimated, about 70-80 tiny, black stitches, in all. I didn't have to ask her what happened because my expression gave her the go-ahead to give me her entire story. She was married and had gone back to school for her degree after she'd started working. She wasn't the most attractive woman, but very helpful and kind. She and I befriended each other in a class we had together. She continued with how she was injured. Told me she'd been at one of her husband's baseball games, a foul ball was hit into the stands, into her right temple, which crushed her cheekbone, cracked her skull in many places, and left her with 150 stitches, 80 of which, I couldn't see. I couldn't believe her story because it all brought John Wheelwright's mom to life and how Meany had taken her out with a foul ball. This lady continued to tell me if the ball had hit her a fraction of a centimeter closer to her ear, she would have suffered brain damage and an aneurism, causing her death, according to her neurologist. I was shocked. I shared Meany's crime with her and told her I couldn't believe this actually happened, because I'd never heard of such a thing. Freaked me out and, to this day, I take Owen Meany's story everywhere I go, and can see the 70 stitches up the side of my former college classmate's face, holding her life together.

Rating:
Summary: Pleasantly Pleasing.
Review: I read this book as part of a book club that my friends and I just started. I was reluctant to read the book- especially when I saw that it was over 600 pages long. Now that I have read it, I'm so glad that I did. It is like no book that I have ever read before. There is so much symbolism in every chapter. You need to read each page carefully as every word counts. The last 100 pages were the best and they just flew by. Once I got to that point, I couldn't put the book down. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that likes a good novel. You may even, like my friends and I did, learn a little bit about American History.

Rating:
Summary: "Sheerly Unforgettable!"
Review: I tend to be very long-winded so I will keep this extremely short. John Irving, through this novel, has caused me to think and re-think nearly every belief I have formed in my life. Owen is the kind of character that the reader does not just "read" about. By the time I finished this masterfully written piece of literature, Owen had become as much a best friend to me as my real life best friend, or at least that is what it felt like, and still does. This book was so profound that it has caused me to make a commitment to God to spend everyday of my life doing my best to influence others as Owen did. Every person alive, and yet to be born, should read "A Prayer For Owen Meany," I promise you that you will be entertained, at least, and educated at the same time about the struggles in Vietnam and here in our American Society, as well as the world. This is truly a masterpiece, and Owen is the most admirable hero in literature today!

Rating:
Summary: Owen Meany will always be a part of my life
Review: I've read "A prayer for Owen Meany" six or seven times and I am still amazed at how it can touch me. I can always pick it up, read the last sentence and cry. I've had the privilege of reading many books in my life, but none has touched me and haunted me like Owen.

Rating:
Summary: I disagree with Scott Mullin's desecration!
Review: I disagree with Scott Mullin's desecration of a book which changed my life! I was a hideous bum until I picked up what has become my GOSPEL and read therefrom. Just like St. Augustine. 'Cept he picked up St. Paul, but y'all get th' idea.

Rating:
Summary: Owen Meany: Prepare to be changed
Review: John Irving's novel _A Prayer for Owen Meany_, is a literary masterwork and, above all, a book that will change your life. I challenge you, just as I've challenged many people I know, to read this book, all 540-some pages, and not become entranced. Irving is a captivating author, his work filled with beautiful images crafted with often crude words, and he proves to be one of our nation's finest story-tellers here.

This book changed my life. Very much like the narrator, "I consider myself a Christian because of Owen Meany." It will challenge your beliefs without preaching and instill a new-found sense of faith into your life.

If the world REALLY had just one Owen Meany...

Rating:
Summary: Irving at his finest!
Review: This book was recommended to me by someone who said it changed his life. I thought he was exaggerating. After reading this book (almost without putting it down), I agree. Extremely thought provoking...I am still pondering the ideas in it, weeks after completing it...please read this book, and think about it! I don't mean to make it sound too heavy - it was a lot of fun to read, as well.

Rating:
Summary: The best in recent times
Review: The most remarkable feature of John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany" is his focus on fate--and faith--and the inevitability of our lives. That everything happens for a reason is illustrated throughout this carefully integrated tale. Owen's voice--in content rather than sound--will long remain with every reader from this story that never seemed to be "made for television."

Rating:
Summary: A Book for the Ages.
Review: This is a delightful novel which made me ask throughout, "What does this have to do with anything?" By the end, I knew exactly what it had to do with everything. John Irving has again woven an intricately detailed story with satisfyingly poignant characters. It left me feeling that, in fact, each of us does have a purpose in life, our charge is to find it.

Rating:
Summary: it didn't change my life, but it made me think - deeply.
Review: This is a typical high quality John Irving novel. He sees life is a scream and sometimes it sucks and sometimes life pulls both off simultaneously.