A Prayer for Owen Meany

[Illhaveawhitewineplease]

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?

I also found it hard to get into but it is worth it, i promise.

Keep going a bit more...

It's a long time since I read it. I remember it being odd in structure, but it's really an amazing book. It was one of those I kept thinking about for ages afterwards.

Persevere.

it is utterly fabulous.

one of my most favourite books ever.

keep going a bit more, it really does get better

Like prudence, it was a long time ago but I remember loving it (and reading several other Irving books after that one and not enjoying them less and less - got fed up with buxom women and German interludes).

Heard it dramatised/serialised on radio, meant to read it after but forgot, thanks for the reminder. I LOVED it on the radio.

A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of my favourite books ever. It can be hard going at first, and Irving does get drawn into Vietnam stats, but despite this it is utterly, utterly brilliant.

I am finally, after a few years in baby madness book wilderness, ready to start reading again. I would love to re-read this before I read anything else.

Read this back in 2003 and loved it. Was my first experience of Irving. I couldn't get into his other stuff.

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

It made me cry.

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

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?

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.

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

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...

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!

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.....

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.

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

I cried too.

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!

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.

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.