Review- A Prayer for Owen Meany
A Prayer for Owen Meany is unlike any book one might ever read. It is in equal parts delightful and frustrating. It is as if the writer was weaving a tapestry with words- there are long descriptions of seemingly inconsequential details that made me want to give up, interspersed with a change of pace so shockingly fast that I couldn’t tear myself away, and ever so often it is adorned with sequins of pure brilliance in the form of astute observations about life, death and everything in between.
Fundamentally, it is a coming-of-age novel marked by deep overtones of faith and friendship. Owen Meany-the author’s best friend- is the hero of this story with his small stature, loud voice (in CAPS) and the unshakable faith that he is an instrument of God. And he is a hero to reckon with, almost too good and pure for this world. But that doesn’t mean he is a wimp. He stands up for his ideals and speaks his mind so articulately that we listen in rapture.
“Owen Meany who rarely wasted words and who had the conversation-stopping habit of dropping remarks like coins into a deep pool of water… remarks that sank, like truth, to the bottom of the pool where they would remain untouchable.”
The novel runs in two tracks, one describing their years growing up from the 1940s to 1960s, and the other in the author’s present day in the mid-1980s. You can sense a deep bitterness in the present-day track and wonder whatever went so wrong.
The entries from the past also change tone as Owen and John grow up- childhood games with a stuffed armadillo and a dead grandfather’s closet are replaced with themes of war, morality and faith.
John Irving speaks of America, his home country, as one might of an estranged parent. Only a cavernous love can cause such extreme anguish. He rants about the futility of the Vietnam war, the dangerous policies of Ronald Reagan, America’s hypocritical attitude towards outward morality strangely forgiving of the deepest perversions behind closed doors. His entire outlook can be characterized by this quote from the novel:
“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. ”
The message is loud and clear. For a book about faith, it never becomes preachy. I loved the characters, the wit and the dry humor. It’s bound to give you a lot to think about and I am sure I’ll revisit it in the years to come.
I leave you with this final quote likening America to Marilyn Monroe that I can’t get out of my mind. I feel it is true of my home country too.
“IT HAS TO DO WITH ALL OF US,” said Owen Meany, when I called him that night. “SHE WAS JUST LIKE OUR WHOLE COUNTRY — NOT QUITE YOUNG ANYMORE, NOT BUT OLD EITHER; A LITTLE BREATHLESS, VERY BEAUTIFUL, MAYBE A LITTLE STUPID, MAYBE A LOT SMARTER THAN SHE SEEMED. AND SHE WAS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING — I THINK SHE WANTED TO BE GOOD. LOOK AT THE MEN IN HER LIFE — JOE DIMAGGIO, ARTHUR MILLER, MAYBE THE KENNEDYS. LOOK AT HOW GOOD THEY SEEM! LOOK AT HOW DESIRABLE SHE WAS! THAT’S WHAT SHE WAS: SHE WAS DESIRABLE. SHE WAS FUNNY AND SEXY — AND SHE WAS VULNERABLE, TOO. SHE WAS NEVER QUITE HAPPY, SHE WAS ALWAYS A LITTLE OVERWEIGHT. SHE WAS JUST LIKE OUR WHOLE COUNTRY,” he repeated; he was on a roll. I could hear Hester playing her guitar in the background, as if she were trying to improvise a folk song from everything she said. “AND THOSE MEN,” he said. “THOSE FAMOUS, POWERFUL MEN — DID THEY REALLY LOVE HER? AND DID THEY TAKE CARE OF HER? IF SHE WAS EVER WITH THE KENNEDYS, THEY COULDN’T HAVE LOVED HER — THEY WERE JUST USING HER, THEY WERE JUST BEING CARELESS AND TREATING THEMSELVES TO A THRILL. THAT’S WHAT POWERFUL MEN DO TO THIS COUNTRY — IT’S A BEAUTIFUL, SEXY, BREATHLESS COUNTRY, AND POWERFUL MEN USE IT TO TREAT THEMSELVES TO A THRILL! THEY SAY THEY LOVE IT BUT THEY DON’T MEAN IT. THEY SAY THINGS TO MAKE THEMSELVES APPEAR GOOD — THEY MAKE THEMSELVES APPEAR MORAL. THAT”S WHAT I THOUGHT KENNEDY WAS: A MORALIST. BUT HE WAS JUST GIVING US A SNOW JOB, HE WAS JUST BEING A GOOD SEDUCER. I THOUGHT HE WAS A SAVIOR. I THOUGHT HE WANTED TO USE HIS POWER TO DO GOOD. BUT PEOPLE WILL SAY AND DO ANYTHING JUST TO GET THE POWER; THEN THEY’LL USE THE POWER JUST TO GET A THRILL. MARILYN MONROE WAS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR THE BEST MAN — MAYBE SHE WANTED THE MAN WITH THE MOST INTEGRITY, MAYBE SHE WANTED THE MAN WITH THE MOST ABILITY TO DO GOOD. AND SHE WAS SEDUCED, OVER AND OVER AGAIN — SHE GOT FOOLED, SHE WAS TRICKED, SHE GOT USED, SHE WAS USED UP. JUST LIKE THE COUNTRY. THE COUNTRY WANTS A SAVIOR. THE COUNTRY IS A SUCKER FOR POWERFUL MEN WHO LOOK GOOD. WE THINK THEY’RE MORALISTS AND THEN THEY JUST USE US. THAT’S WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN TO YOU AND ME,” said Owen Meany. “WE’RE GOING TO BE USED.”
