Book Review: A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

A Prayer for Owen Meany has absolutely everything a reader wants in a story. There is romance and intrigue. There are moments of incredible joy and great wickedness. The characters come alive and become part of your world while you are reading this book. You begin to look for Owen and the others when you are in the grocery store or on the train. A Prayer for Owen Meany is like almost all of Irving's other books it starts off nowhere and ends nowhere but it is one wicked ride and somehow when you are finished reading the book you are a better person. You have a greater understanding of humanity and what is it like to be an outsider and the power that you have to make one decision that will change and improve the lives of thousands.

As for Owen himself he is magnificent. He is a boy small in stature and large in spirit. He believes he was born for greatness and he shares this belief with his best friend and anyone and everyone else who will listen. Since Owen is sure he was born for greatness he is always on the lookout for his destiny. Owen also has a strong and amazing faith in God and this is something that can drive the others in his life insane as they tend to be a group of questioners and skeptics. Owen is many things but a skeptic is not one of them. Irving describes Owen in great detail including his voice and throughout the book everything that Owen says is written in capital letters. While this style may take some getting used to once you have lost yourself in the book and you will the capital letters become a very effective tool. They helped to remind you of everything that Owen is and is not.

Throw in a stuffed and stolen armadillo, a grandmother who is often mistaken for a screaming banshee and a mystery surrounding paternity and you have a book for the ages. I encourage you to run to your local book store and purchase this fabulously funny, uplifting, love story of a book that is ultimately about the ability of everyone to make a difference no matter our age, our size or our history.