John Irving is one of my favorite authors. His novels are generally sweeping epics, filled with characters both endearing and absurd. He is a master with plot and is one of the authors who has been able to straddle the fence between popular and highbrow fiction. While he has his detractors, and, in my opinion, some of his recent work has fallen short, the standard he set with The World According to Garp, The Hotel New Hampshire, The Cider House Rules, A Prayer for Owen Meany, and A Son of the Circus is enough to ensure his stature as one the finest authors of his generation.
A Prayer for Owen Meany is probably my favorite Irving novel; it is nostalgic, thought-provoking, profound, and above all else, just a fabulous yarn. The novel takes the form of the rememberances of John Wheelwright, princiapally the time he spent with his friend Owen Meany. Owen, who suffers from an unidentified malady, never progresses beyond the size of a small child. He has a bizarre voice, which Irving represents by using all capital letters when Owen speaks. During a softball game, Owen's only hit of his little league career results in the death of John's beloved mother. From this moment on, Owen is convinced he is an instrument of God, and forsees a future in which his death will save others and have great meaning.
Does Owen have a Christ complex? Or is he truly an instrument of God?John is never really sure until the ending, and everything is made clear. John says early on that he is a Christian because of Owen Meany. Certainly, his relationship with Owen answers questions about his own cloudy paternity and his feelings about faith. Along the way, we meet many memorable characters who engage in events both melodramatic and comical. Irving's sense of humor is intact throughout, although the overall tone is ruminative.
The novel contains John's ruminations on faith as well as his disgust with the state of the U.S. government and its policies (circa the late 1980s). Obviously, this is Irving the author speaking directly to us through one of his characters, a ploy he also uses extensively in The Cider House Rules. These passages can drag, but never for long enough to pull the reader away from an incredibly emotional reading experience.
3 comments:
I typically don't deal in absolutes, i.e. best, favorite, greatest, but this novel is without a doubt my favorite of all time.
It is everything a great work of art should be...absorbing, thought provoking, challenging, entertaining and ultimately leads to some sense of self-revelation.
Dave is much more thorough and eloquent in his review, but for me it can be summed up very simply. If someone you care about is looking for a good book to stimulate their emotional senses, or just needs a literary sounding board to examine their own life...this is THE book.
Welcome bro! Very well said. I knew you loved this book, but I didn't know how profoundly you felt about it. I don't reread a lot of books, but I've probably read this one 5 or 6 times.
Oh, and by the way...if you or anyone you know have real estate needs in the 10 western states, please visit www.DallasBeckerRE.com. Sorry for the shameless commercial plug Dave!
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