A Prayer for Owen Meany

A Prayer for Owen Meany (by John Irving) is the story of two boys, John Wheelwright and Owen Meany. John has a loving mother and stepfather but doesn’t know who his biological father is, Owen is unnaturally tiny and has damaged vocal cords, causing his voice to sound “wrecked” and almost freakish. Owen believes that God made him the way he was for a purpose—his faith in this is as unshakeable as his hatred for Catholics. The story is told from the perspective of a grown-up John as he relates his growing up as the best friend of Owen Meany.

Does this synopsis sound at all familiar to you? If so, then you, like me, have seen the film “Simon Birch”, which is based on parts of A Prayer for Owen Meany. When I first realized this, I got a little frustrated—all of the mystery and interesting plot points of the story had already been revealed to me, which sucked a lot of the pleasure out of reading, at least at first. However, “Simon Birch” shaved away a lot of elements of the original story, cut out the latter half, and completely changed the ending, so in the end I would say that watching the movie is in no way an adequate substitute for reading the book.

Why? Because A Prayer for Owen Meany is 617 pages of excellence. The story is gripping, complex, and nuanced, the dialogue is hilarious, the characters are both likeable and memorable. The biggest theme in Owen Meany is religious faith, the role of doubt, the hypocrisy of certain organized religions. I especially loved the sections of Owen’s hilarious conjecturing on God and his nature. My favorite quote from the book is this (Owen’s dialogue was always written in capital letters, due to the weird nature of his voice):

“THE POINT IS, GOD DOESN’T LOVE US BECAUSE WE’RE SMART OR BECAUSE WE’RE GOOD. WE’RE STUPID AND WE’RE BAD AND GOD LOVES US ANYWAY—JESUS ALREADY TOLD THE DUMB-S**T DISCIPLES WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. ‘THE SON OF MAN WILL BE DELIVERED INTO THE HANDS OF MEN, AND THEY WILL KILL HIM…’ REMEMBER THAT WAS IN MARK—RIGHT?”

“Yes, but let’s not say ‘dumb-s**t disciples’ in class, Owen,” Mr. Merrill said…

Not only was A Prayer for Owen Meany enjoyable to read, it was a truly masterful work of interwoven facts and events that led up to a spectacular, almost tear-jerking conclusion. Little events or plot points show up later in the narrative, in completely unexpected ways—which I think is the novel’s biggest strength. However, it is by no means the novel’s only strength. The commentary on American society was also witty, interesting, and insightful:

“THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN GET AMERICANS TO NOTICE ANYTHING IS TO TAX THEM OR DRAFT THEM OR KILL THEM,” Owen said.

But I didn’t come to Canada to be a smart-ass American; and Canon Campbell told me that most smart-ass Canadians tend to move to the United States.

I will tell you what is my overriding perception of the last twenty years: that we are a civilization careening toward a succession of anticlimaxes—toward an infinity of unsatisfying and disagreeable endings.

I enjoyed A Prayer for Owen Meany so fully and completely—I will readily recommend it to anyone. It was enjoyable and thought-provoking and utterly satisfying.

Next up is probably Tess of D’Urbervilles or Brave New World, and hopefully Jesus the Christ over the break. As John Wheelwright says near the end of Owen Meany: “My life is a reading list.”