A Prayer for Owen Meany

Name: A Prayer for Owen Meany
Rating: 7.77 (194 reviews)
ISBN: 9780552212175

"I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice - not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany." So begins John Irving's new novel. In the summer of 1953, two eleven-year-old boys - best friends - are playing ina Little League baseball game in Gravesend , New Hampshire; one of the boys hits a foul ball that kills his best friend's mother. The boy who hit the ball doesn't believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen - after that 1953 fould ball - is extraordinary and terrifying. (front flap)

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Published Aug 11, 2009

Average rating: 7.77

194 RATINGS

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Christine Sprague

Oct 19, 2024

Tess Ellis

WineforReading

Sep 06, 2023

9/10 stars

Read this book so many years ago but above and beyond one of my truly favorites.

Lindsey Buck

Jul 23, 2026

6/10 stars

3.5

hrbrae77

Jul 15, 2026

6/10 stars

The pace of this story definitely improved near the end of the penultimate chapter. I enjoyed this book enough that my three star rating seems unjust, but, for me, it didn't become higher than a three star story until more than 300 pages into it.

KatWhyte

Jun 26, 2026

9/10 stars

Owen Meany was a very small person with a wrecked voice. The novel is told through the eyes of his best friend. Owen believes he knows the day of his own death. "If you care about something, you have to protect it--if you're lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it."