FMFs origional book swap circle: A prayer for Owen Meany

[Lulumama]

Well, i gave it my best shot. And i just could not do it!! I borrowed this off a friend a while ago, and could not get stuck into it then. I tried again, but, i just could not connect with this book, i found the writing style exhausting and could not empathise with the characters. Just could not get into it .

My best friend rates this as one of her all time desert island books, and we have really similar taste in books, but i just could not get to grips with it

sorry

i heart this book!

it is a stupendous, blockbuster of a novel and utterly compelling

it is hard work but worth it

i like some of his other books - try "A widow for one year"

well, we cannot possibly be twins if you liked it so much !! am not convinced , am sure i tried to read something else of his, and failed

Owen Meany was the first John Irving I ever read and I did find it very original and compelling, but haven't felt the same about his other work, eg The World According to Garp.

ALL THOSE CAPITALS scream at you a bit don't they Lulu?

oh god I love Owen Meany! I am not in the book circle, will I get drummed out for posting on here? [fear]

anyway I saw John Irving reading from the book in person and it helped me enormously to enjoy and understand the character

the way he did the voice was VERY FUNNY
I can hear him now - "LIBERACE! KILLED BY WATERMELONS!"

Book circle? Any one can post, Fran.

I am reading it now and really enjoying it, though the shouting is getting to me slightly. I am weirdly sensitive to typeface/layout, though . I have lost it somewhere in the house in the last two days - very irritating. Bloody pregnancy brain.

god the shouting ! it just finished me off, i am quite sensitive to noise yes, the world according to garp, it was just so mammoth!!

it's the book circle swop thread

they might like only PROPER members on it

you are proper enough, frances!

Oh well if I am Miss Frances on here then I certainly am vair proper

I told you it was hard going, Lulumama! But (IMO) it's well worth sticking with. A lot of the story seems irrelevant and it seems to flounder a bit in the middle but once you get to the end, it all comes together and makes complete sense.

I found it completely compelling - full of humour, irony, pathos and humanity. Owen isn't a particularly sympathetic character but that's part of his charm really. I've read it again and again, and although I'm not particularly sentimental, I still find it devastatingly moving every time I read it.

you must be my RL best friend! that is just what she said about it... the boook is on my bed side table staring at me.. i am going to have to try again!