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Summary: Nothing Compares!!!!
Review: A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of the best books I have ever laid my hands on. I usually hate reading books for school, but this is the only exception. I have never enjoyed a book in my life until I saw this. Irving effectively weaves several topics ranging from childhood games to religion into one master plot. Every sentence is written with its own uniqness and in a way that doesn't confuse a reader. If you have to read just one book.... read this one!!!!!!!!
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Summary: Cheap knock off of "The Tin Drum"
Review: Every major element of Grass's "The Tin Drum" is stolen and made sappy: main character with stunted growth and unusual voice who works with stonecutting. Irving would probably call it an homage, but I call it cheap, thinly veiled plagiarism.
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Summary: I MISS OWEN MEANY
Review: Whenever I bring up John Irving to a friend, thay ask, "Isn't that the guy who wrote that Garp book." Well, he did, and I read it, and it wasn't bad. But this book if something different all together. It's a Godsend. I was inspired to read this book by a teacher who came to school wearing a T-shirt that said, "I miss Owen Meany" He subsequently told me that Owen was one of his favorite people, fictional or real. To tell you the truth, I took him with a grain of salt. But for those of you who haven't read it--It's all true! Owen is a friend, you miss him to death when you finish this book. We spend a lot of time analysing and hemming and hawing at literature, but while this one exists on many levels, it hits you first and foremost in the gut. I will say that not all the political commentary was needed. But we do have to keep in mind that the narrator is not the author(for the one person who was upset about the political views in the book). And we have to rememeber that no matter how you feel about Vietnam, the truth is that in the 1960's, there was a nation of boys scared to death of dying in a far-off land. READ THIS NOW! (and e-mail me with comments) A side note- I just learned that my other favorite writer Kurt Vonnegut was Johnny's teacher. There you go.
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Summary: The best book I have ever read!
Review: Every time the subject of must read books comes up with friends and associates I always say "you must read A Prayer for Owen Meany!" "If you can't find a copy I will let you read mine, but you must take care of it and return it!" I have never read a book twice. I have read A Prayer for Owen Meany four times. I have yet to be able to find it in hard back. I can't imagine it not being published in hard back. If anyone out there knows where I can find it in hard back please e-mail me and let me know.
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Summary: Please read the book before the movie comes out!!!
Review: Character development and the prose to make those characters live and breathe in my mind are tributes I have felt I owed to John Irving from the time I read The World According to Garp and Cider House Rules...now overshadowed by A Prayer for Owen Meany. The actors who take on the challenge of bringing OWEN and Johnny to life in the upcoming film will have their hands full with these two boys as Irving has created them on paper.
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Summary: This Book is the literary equivilent of an 8 course meal...
Review: ... and every bite is just as delicious and satisfying as the first. From the opening paragraph, (which in my opinion is one of the best I have ever read,) to the heart-wrenching final scene, this book never lets up. I was smack in the middle of reading OWEN when the whole Monica thing broke... and I found Irving's idea's about presidential power and political power hilariously funny... read the book to find out what I mean. I no longer recommend that people read this book... I just leave a copy of it on doorsteps with a note "Read or Die." I've yet to find an unhappy victim.
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Summary: The best book that I have ever read
Review: This book is funny, shocking, touching . . .everything you would want from a novel. Everyone I recommend it to also comes to the conclusion that this is one of the best novels ever written!
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Summary: I laughed, I cried...
Review: What can be said that hasn't already been said? I just finished _A Prayer for Owen Meany_ and came straight here to relive the joy -- just reading these reviews brought back welcome memory after welcome memory. I'm torn, though: trying to decide who I should give my copy of the book to... my brother, mom, best friend? I want them all to read it, not just so I can have someone to discuss the book with, but so that they, too, might come to know Owen Meany as those of us who have read the book have been fortunate to do. I'll admit, the book did bog down a bit in the middle, as each time I saw the year 1987 I braced myself for more of Johnny's anti-U.S. ranting and thought "oh no, not this again..." Annoying as that was, it makes sense in the context of the book when everything is revealed (quite frankly, though, Irving could have excised some of those sections). Owen, too, lost some of his appeal during the early college years -- he didn't wear anger particularly well. For that matter, the post-1970 Johnny strikes me as a rather dull, obsessive guy, though he always was something of a pale shadow of his smaller companion. I also thought the ending worked better on a symbolic level -- what it represented to Owen, to Johnny, to the novel as a whole -- than as a narrative; even though it drew everything together nicely, I feel like something's missing. I just finished the book an hour ago, so I'm not sure what it is... maybe it feels a bit contrived, or it's not as grandiose as I'd expected or something. Don't get me wrong, though: the wonder, presence, insight, wit, loyalty, and faith of Owen make me wish I had a chance to meet him, and remind me how lucky I am to know people who possess those same traits -- the most poignant scene for me came when Owen spoke to Johnny at the end of the novel; the depth of their friendship struck me with incredible force. As seems to be the common theme in people's reviews, I laughed out loud time and again, and tears welled in my eyes as I turned the ! final pages. I still haven't decided who will get my copy next, but they'd better read it quickly (and I have no doubt they will!) since the list of people I want to meet Owen Meany is long and growing longer.
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Summary: This book was so good it ruined me for all other books.
Review: This is without a doubt the most well-written, yet entertaining book I have ever read. I couldn't read another book for months because none could compare to the emotional experience that is Owen Meany. If you need a little faith, this book delivers. If you need a laugh, this book delivers. If you need a cry, THIS BOOK DELIVERS!!!
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Summary: Never the same again .......
Review: You don't read this book - it reads you! It turns you over page by page. It makes you cry it makes you love, it makes you believe again and hope. As John says: You don't need to see a miracle to have faith - the fact that you have faith IS the miracle. We all want the little voice at the back of our minds to be like Owen. We all need such a true and honest friend and since we are unlikely to ever meet such a person "in person", Owen is the only one small enough to fit into that place in one's soul. If this book doesn't change your life, you should really wonder whether you have a life......... Thank-you John. Thank-you Owen. Thank-You God.
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