Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Unflip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Unflip

1 2 3

Original poster

A Prayer for Owen Meany

59 replies

Illhaveawhitewineplease · 17/11/2010 20:38

My first post on MN and thought I would start here rather than the scary AIBU...
So, based on rave reviews and a personal recommendation, I started reading the above. Am now on page 132 and have so far not been drawn in.

I am finding the lack of chronology quite trying i.e. his mother was alive, then she was killed, then she was alive again, then there were a load of statistics about the Vietnam War, then it was back to the aftermath of the mother's death.
Is it like this all the way through? Why should I persevere?

OP posts:

electricslide · 18/11/2010 21:54

'You'll then recommend it to all your friends, and you'll secretly go a wee bit off the ones that don't like it as much as you'

This is soooo true!
It's my favourite book ever, I cried so much when I finished it.

ClaireDeLoon · 18/11/2010 21:39

Is Christmas pressie from DP. I'm deliberately not buying books at the moment so that I can just amazon crazy on Christmas Day.

I like quite a few of his books which is why I was surprised I couldn't get into Owen Meanie.

deaddei · 18/11/2010 21:21

Get you with your kindle.......
Love Cider House rules too.

ClaireDeLoon · 18/11/2010 21:20

This thread has convinced me to try this book again, I started it years ago and couldn't get into it.

I will get it once I have my kindle.

deaddei · 18/11/2010 21:18

Keep going.
I am going to reread it at Xmas- for the 5th time.
Love it.

CDMforever · 18/11/2010 21:17

Whenever I'm asked what my favourite book is I always reply Owen Meany. I have bought it for numerous friends and partners and all said the same, "I can't get into it..." yet, behold, after a little perserverance they too adore La Meany.

BelligerentGhoul · 18/11/2010 17:35

I found it really, really overlong and boring in a lot of parts. A few bits I liked a lot eg: the car bit. The end is okay but really not as amazing as lots of people seem to think imho. Tbh, having finished it (and I had a v similar thread to this going to make me finish it!), I wished I hadn't bothered. V v underwhelmed.

JetLi · 18/11/2010 17:11

Please keep going - please. It's a wonderful book & you will cry buckets at the end. I looked like a frog for a couple of days, what with the swollen eyes

You've prompted me to read it again actually - it has been too long. John Irving is a wonderful writer.

floozietoozie · 18/11/2010 16:27

I cried and cried at the end. Fantastic book, onebof irving's best.

The Vietnam stats are relevant. You'll understand more as the book goes on. It is truly heartbreaking.

Also, this can't be the only book you've read where the narrator jumps around in time, surely? It's not uncommon not to have a linear plotline. It's definitely worth continuing.

Thesecondcoming - at dp and bf. It's so disappointing when your "loved ones" fail to appreciate true art isn't it . The friend who lent me this book had the same literary taste as me. She's been dead nine years and one of the many things I miss about her is having someone to talk books with who gets it.

Oblomov · 18/11/2010 16:19

One of my favourites. Ever. I didn't get it, till the end. But then I'm not very good at guessing tv dramas, series, and who done its.
I think he is a very odd writer though. Fab odd, rather than bad odd.
I mena I found it hard work. Then only when I got tot he very very end, and got it, then i beggan to think about authors style, and the whole catalogue of chapters, susepnse, building, time wierdness ( as Op said mum being alive then bnot) and suddenly it dawned on me what a very very very clever book it is. I think thats why I like it.

mountainmonkey · 18/11/2010 16:10

One of my favourite books, though I haven't read it for years. Am making DP read it atm (he hardly ever reads novels)but he doesn't seem to be sharing my enthusiasm so maybe its not for everybody.

thesecondcoming · 18/11/2010 15:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HopeForTheBestExpectTheWorst · 18/11/2010 13:41

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn on request of the poster.

FreddoBaggyMac · 18/11/2010 09:25

Yes it is worth sticking with, it's a long time since I read it but I still have very fond memories! I liked the film too, although it's quite different from the book, as far as I remember only the characters are the same - the plot is totally different!

Portofino · 17/11/2010 23:39

I cried too.

oricella · 17/11/2010 23:02

because you'll never be able to see a nativity play without a secret smile on your face...

stainesmassif · 17/11/2010 22:33

absolutely loved it, but i do think irving is a bit of an acquired taste.

having said that, owen is one of the greatest literary heroes of the 20th century.

i cried.

Portofino · 17/11/2010 22:20

I love how everyone is so drawn to Owen, even the girls, and spent ages trying to imagine what he might look like, and how his squeaky voice would sound.....

piratecat · 17/11/2010 22:19

won't read the thread, but i picked it up just today in library, cos i'd heard it was 'someone's' fave book ever, sleb i like. Can't remember who.

will watch this thread and return!

Portofino · 17/11/2010 22:19

Yes, it all seems a bit loopy in places, then as AgentP says, you think " Wow! Now I understand!" and have to read it again...

Hassled · 17/11/2010 22:16

Oh persevere, please. It's a great, great book. And what Agent said.

AgentProvocateur · 17/11/2010 22:14

You'll get to the end and go, "OMG! It all makes sense," and then you'll realise it's one of the best books you've ever read.

You'll then recommend it to all your friends, and you'll secretly go a wee bit off the ones that don't like it as much as you.

smellyfeet · 17/11/2010 21:55

I have been reading it for 3 years! I still cannot get into it.
When will it get going? Will I get to the end and then think back and like it, or is there a turning point?

ByTheSea · 17/11/2010 21:49

I loved this book, read it eons ago. That said, I've been a big John Irving fan for over 30 years now.

orangina · 17/11/2010 21:47

LOVED it. One of my favourite books ever. Mind you, I didn't have to "persevere", I just loved it.

It made me cry.

Unflip

1 2 3