Michael's Book Babble

"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."

And so begins the epic that is A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. Owen didn't believe in accidents. Not even when a baseball he threw ended up killing the narrator's mother. He believed that everything happened for a reason, and that there was a plan for him in the works all along. The narrator, Johnny, thinks he's crazy. But over the years he'd known Owen, he witnessed a bunch of strange occurrences and events that wouldn't make sense until much, much later.

This is my first time reading a John Irving novel, and after this I don't suspect it'll be my last. It's a long novel, and if you know my history I tend to struggle with longer novels. I have a horrid attention span. I always want to move on to the next book on my list, even if the book I'm currently reading is excellent. But I am really glad that I stuck with this book, because it paid off in full. Things that I wasn't sure why the author added at first ended up serving a greater purpose in the end. And that ending... Wow. I really thought I was ready for it. I thought I had an idea of what would happen. In fact, I was bummed at first because the narrator kept hinting on what was surely about to happen to poor Owen. But nothing could've ever prepared me for it.

This is a very rich book. You get fully absorbed into the story. The characters and places feel real and unique to you. If I only have one complaint, it's that the narrator as a grown-up isn't nearly as interesting as when he was a child. Some of his political rants kind of made me roll my eyes--even though I suspect the two of us are probably on the same side somewhat. That was the only time I felt the book slowed down and didn't help things forward. But other than that, I was pleasantly surprised.

I intended on giving this book four stars at first, but the ending was so perfect and surprising that I had to bump it up half a star.

The audiobook, read by Joe Barrett, is excellent. He does a great job, and even makes his voice high for Owen. I have no idea how he could've pulled it off. It hurts my throat just thinking about it.

Apologies if I haven't explained much of the story line for you. Truth is this novel is fully packed. A lot of things happen, and a lot of surprises happen. But at the heart of it, the novel is about a touching and wonderful friendship between two people. Even during the narrator's darkest time when he lost his mother, the two's friendship never faltered. In fact, it only became stronger. Now that I know the bigger picture and endgame, I can honestly say that I really loved this novel.

4 and a half stars