"Owen Meany, the only child of a New Hampshire granite quarrier, believes he is God's instrument; he is.
This is John Irving's most comic novel; yet Owen Meany is Mr. Irving's most heartbreaking character."









Number 196 on the list of "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die"

RELEASE NOTES:

Mailed to icekween01 in Missouri as a RABCK

What a wonderful surprise I received today!! :-) Thank you so much!! I look forward to reading it and will journal again once I finish. As sad as it is, I just discovered John Irving's works last year when I read The World according to Garp for the first time. I loved it so much I wanted to read more of his work. Thanks again!

Happy Bookcrossing!!

So, my New Year's resolution this year was to focus on reading the books(RABCKS)that have been sent to me from other bookcrossers. I have been a serious slacker and I am determined to change my ways and to get caught up. I started this one today. I will journal again when I finish and get it moving again. Forgive me for not getting to it sooner.

Wow. John Irving is a masterful story teller. I only first discovered his work a year or so ago when I read "The World According to Garp" and I loved that but I loved this book even more. I was definitely hooked and riveted throughout. I laughed and cried. Brilliant. LOVED IT! Thank you so much pzarks for sending it my way. I am going to check some wishlists and see if I can't find another bookcrosser to send it to. This one was a gem and I hope I can find someone to pass it on to and that they enjoy it just as much as I did.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

sent to fellow bookcrosser oliviapoolside to fulfill a wish.

ENJOY!!!

Thank you very much for sending this book my way! I am really pleased and looking forward to reading it.

I finally read it!

I found this book far more serious than either A Widow for One Year or The Hotel New Hampshire. I also found it less offensive in a lot of ways. I also thought it was over long. 617 pages! I kept thinking WHEN am I going to finally finish this book??!!
A lot of the book is taken up with religious hymns, rituals and prayers that are unknown to me. But that was OK. The book has a strong religious theme.
Also, Mr. Irving lets loose with quite a bit of political opinion, most of it negative, concerning the Vietnam War, and then later Ronald Reagan. It was informative though, I didn't mind.
I didn't understand some of Owen's behavior. Maybe no one would, and that was part of the point of the story. I didn't like him much as a kid actually, but as an adult I thought he was pretty amazing. I really thought that Mr. Irving must be writing from a place of grief and loss over someone he lost in Vietnam. But the dedication is to his parents.
The ending is a knockout.

Released into Booklady's ABC Bookbox.

Arrived home in my ABC bookbox. Already read this book. Going to decide what to do with the book - add it to round 2 or ???

Enjoy!

This book is making a quick stop in San Diego in the Already Been Crossed book box. I've already read this book, but loved it so much that I just had to say something here.

Here's what I had to say about it when I finished reading it in Nov 2010:

I was so engrossed in this story, it was hard to put it down to go to sleep. For a story that starts out pretty normally, it certainly became odd and convoluted quickly, as I have come to expect from John Irving. But even for John Irving, this was a masterpiece of story-telling, of character development, and of doing what he does best -- putting really odd characters in odd situations that somehow seem plausible, and then making you care what happens. And what an ending!!! I'm still thinking "WOW".

This book will continue its bookbox journey and see if it can find a new home.

I read this book several years ago, and even hosted a bookring for it :)

I really enjoyed reading John's story about growing up with Owen Meany, but every time he transitioned from the past to the present, from adventures in Gravesend to his diary in Toronto, I got lost. Well, not lost - it is more like, I got interrupted. Distracted. The story's spell was snapped.

But wow. What a story. What an engrossing, confusing character Owen Meany is. His devotion to the Wheelwright family was touching, but also sad; it seemed he abandoned his own family to surround himself in a new one. Given Owen's beliefs about himself and his family, there is little surprise that he was so deeply religious, but his distaste for his family seemed out of place to the rest of his character. His spiritual devotion is something I admire in him, and so he becomes inspirational, because to have faith that strong is something I ought to strive for with greater dedication.

Owen's certainty and sense of purpose are an excellent contrast to the narrator John, who lacks both. John's just as memorable as Owen, because he is just so normal that anyone could recognize tan aspect of him within themselves.

The plot twists and turns, with little mysteries that pop up again and again; all is resolved by the end of the book, but not often as you would expect. Great book.

Adding to my "Classics Bookbox"!

Taking from The Classics Bookbox. Thanks for hosting!