Format: eBook
Pub. Date: 1989
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Type: Fiction ~ Library Book
Pages: 562
Read: 11/12/2012
Rating: Was O.K.

This is the first John Irving book I have read and I have no doubt it will be my last. When I first started this novel, I asked some friends, “Why are John Irving’s books so fecking long!” I asked that because in addition to this book I had checked out The Cider House Rules which is also by John Irving and is also fecking long (640 pages per Goodreads). Somewhere along the way I figured out why the book was so long, on the way to finding out what happened to Owen Meany, we had to take side trips.

The book is narrated by John Wheelwright who is now a teacher at a girl’s school in Toronto. For a good part of the book we stay in Gravesend, NH, but then suddenly we are transported into Toronto, Canada. While that is not a problem at first, after a while we are spending a great deal of time in Ontario listening to John complain about the new Canon in the church, and Nixon and how newspapers will be the death of him until I felt that A Prayer for Owen Meany would be the death of ME. I kept reading because I wanted to find out what happens to Owen Meany but the book bored me and the ALL CAPS THAT OWEN MEANY INSISTED ON TALKING IN annoyed the spit out of me.

One of the reasons I kept reading was the breadcrumbs John Irving throws out, he would make a statement then say, “As you’ll see later.” That also began to annoy me, but it was a good devise to keep me reading. However, after I found out what happened to Owen, I was so relieved the book was over I can’t even tell you how it ended exactly. I know it ends with John in Canada, but other than that I don’t remember. Also, while I was reading the book I started to wonder if it was autobiographical, when I read a short bio of the author I could see parallels in him and the character John Wheelwright.

After all this, I don’t think of John Irving as a bad writer, I do think this book could have been 100 to 200 pages shorter and still been as good. Also, The Cider House Rules is going back to the library unread.

Posted by on November 14, 2012 in 2012, Fiction, Novel and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

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About Belleza

I got the name Bella because my grandfather called me Suzabell. I use that as a username and my friends on the site started calling me Bella. Thus was born: Bella Foxx's Life, now known as "just a city girl" since I have made the big jump from the country and am now living in the City, UES. I like to make jewelry (check out my blog "Bella is creative" started April 17, 2008) and write. I like to do cross stitch and knit. I sew, I don't really enjoy it, but I enjoy the clothes. I like to read the Bible, books, magazines, online newspaper articles, blogs, jokes on candy wrappers, ads on the subway, billboards, backs of food boxes, lists of ingredients and recipes, cleaning directions, sayings on shirts. I post my reviews on "Just a girl, living, reading, watching, and writing", on Shelfari, Library Thing and Goodreads.. I am allergic to practically everything: grass, trees, weeds, animal dander, dust, mold, wheat, apples, nuts, fish and coconut. The fish and coconut are so serious I carry an Epi-pen and wear a Medic-Alert bracelet. And last but not least. I love the Yankees.

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