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A Prayer for Owen Meany (平装)
by John Irving
| Category:
Fiction |
| Market price: ¥ 108.00
MSL price:
¥ 98.00
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| Stock:
In Stock |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
John Irving’s masterpiece, in which he has created an awe-inspiring character of Owen Meany, a funny little guy with a big heart and a brave soul. A tale of faith, love and life. |
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AllReviews |
  1 2 Total 2 pages 13 items |
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Estorga (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-09 00:00>
When a friend recommended this book to me, I regarded it with skepticism. I had never been a fan of this kind of work before, but John Irving's style and exceptional skill with character development sucked me in, and before I knew it, I was laughing and crying right alongside the characters.
The main character begins by telling about his life and his childhood, and his best friend Owen Meany... the book follows their lives while they grow up together, and eventually Owen Meany's "prophecy" comes true, but in a way that neither of them ever expected. This description doesn't come close to really relating how moving this story is, though.
If you love mysteries... read this book.
If you love stories with a spiritual bent (think Dean Koontz)... read this book.
If you are a fan of Hemmingway or Kerouac... read this book.
Irving ties together elements from all, and with enough skill that it WORKS.
This is a joyful read; I highly recommend it.
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Corey Lipow (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-09 00:00>
I will first outline the reasons that A Prayer for Owen Meany is worth a look - the main character of course (not the narrator), Owen is extroadinarily unique and has qualities rarely seen in literature. It is also impressive that Irving created such a character and allowed him to grow up too, at least to his twenties, and even though he maintains some of the same aspects of personality, he changes just as we all change in growing up. In the beginning, he is awkward and my first impression was of him being the ultimate dork, but his intelligence makes short work of that. Other notable elements of Irving's storytelling, he can certainly grab you with drauma, such as in both plays Owen starred in at the age of ten or eleven, at Christmas time (that of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, and of the Christ baby). Both roles could not have been described better, and added the most to Owen's character which made me wonder at him. I was struck by these scenes especially. Irving can be wonderfully comic as well, especially in the first half of the book, which has more comedy in it than drauma. The idea that Grandmother's former maid had her leg amputated, and now required of a maid of her own, which John's grandmother paid for, and the whole string of maids were hilarious. I loved how Lydia followed the grandmother's opinions. The scene in which they were at the table for dinner, with Ethel and Germaine tending to them, was hilarious, the most comic scene of the novel. The ending, too, was great, interesting, and the sort that makes you go, "Ohhhhh, so that's why..." Everything comes together in a suspenseful outcome, and again works to illuminate Owen.
As for the drawbacks: for one, I did not like the going back and forth between past and present, which struck me many times as unnecessary and arbitrary. I did not particularly like the main character, who for pages would mumble on about the greatest literature, commenting on Tess of the D'Ubervilles and The Great Gatsby, among any others. If this was done to improve upon John Wheelwright's character, it didn't do much, and I felt more as if Irving wanted to comment on these authors than the narrator did. I also thought this part of the book was unoriginal; the scenes with Owen in them were far more interesting and unique. The second half of the book lost the comic effect of the first half, concentrating more on the religious aspect - I wish Irving could have kept the comedy to the extent he had it in the beginning. It was far too serious, and too centered on a particular time period, and commenting on that time period, than presenting unique moments in time (or even abstract from time) which is the motivation of every author, in my opinon.
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Yulhee (MSL quote), Korea
<2007-01-09 00:00>
The novel A Prayer for Own Meany is one about everlasting friendship, finding faith, and of growth. It is also written in a dizzying order of events that eventually culminate at the point where all is explained.
A Prayer for Owen Meany, starts off by introducing Owen Meany in a description that could be described as a compact form of what we learn about Owen Meany throughout the whole book. Then, the narrator goes on to introduce himself, and to explain the kind of relationships that Owen Meany had with other people. Thus begins the story of Owen Meany.
The story continues on with numerous leaps in time, linking feelings and thoughts with explanations and stories of past events. This is probably the most major thing that detracts from this novel. It is confusing and hard to keep track of. Perhaps for others with incredible concentration powers, this book would be an easy read. However, I am not one of those people, and I often found that I'd have to look back and check to see what the narrator was referring to. The other factor that was distracting was the narrator's long political diatribes, which really seemed to take away from the novel's excellence.
Other than that, I found this story to be very moving, while keeping up the humor. The undying friendship between Owen and the narrator, John, is touching. They stick beside each other through thick and thin, and often coordinate their lives to match. The series of events presented in this book reveals that Owen's special gift of faith sets him apart from all others. After realizing the miraculous life that Owen Meany lived, the narrator, John's, faith is strengthened. His saying, "I am a Christian because of Owen Meany," and the quote written on the back cover of this book, "Owen Meany, the only child of New Hampshire granite quarrier, believes he is God's instrument; he is," is testament to that.
John Irving injects so much humor into what would have otherwise been a solemn novel. From tales of the two protagonists' girl chasing, to the several acidic articles that Owen writes as the Voice in his school newspaper, to the pranks that Owen and John play on their headmaster, I found myself laughing out loud more often than one would think possible. It has been a while since I've read a book that makes me laugh out loud so frequently.
Filled with witty dialogue and unbelievably amusing stories, this novel is one that I found myself loudly guffawing at, while also being touched and moved by. I would recommend this to anyone who has the time to really enjoy this 617-page book.
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1 2 Total 2 pages 13 items |
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