Here, read the first sentence and see if you’re hooked:
“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.”
With A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving managed to write the rarest of books, a Christian novel that’s not the least bit inspirational. Within the story there is ample evidence of God’s influence in the characters’ lives, but at no point does anyone proselytize: Irving never suggests, even indirectly, that the reader adopt Christianity. And yet this is a very religious book in the sense that God plays a large role—and the main character himself is a Christ figure.
Heavy issues of religion, faith, and spirituality abound in Owen Meany—but in case one weighty topic per book isn’t enough for you, you’ll also get a healthy dose of politics. The story starts simply enough, in small-town 1950s New England, but by the latter half of the book, America is embroiled in Vietnam. Thoughts of war, duty, and personal responsibility occupy the the mind of the narrator, an American who moved to Canada duing the Vietnam War (though not, significantly, as a draft dodger).
With all these meaty issues, Owen Meany is, literally, thought-provoking. For days after I finished it I found myself, er, provoked by thoughts. I would be lying in bed, or taking a shower, or trying to concentrate on a different book, but I kept coming back to Owen Meany. “Wait!” I yelled at my cat as I was feeding her. “Did John Irving mean…?”
Most books with heavy themes are—how shall I say this delicately?—are not over-focused on plot. The Brothers Karamazov, my favorite novel ever, raises every philosophical question known to humankind, but it’s not what you’d call a fast read. Owen Meany, now—the story grabbed me from the get-go and didn’t let go till the very last page, at which point I put the book down and bawled my eyes out. What can I say? The characters grow on you.
Caveat reader: Owen Meany contains strong language and violence (I’m telling you, this is just not typical Christian fiction) and a peculiar strain of anti-Catholicism from one of the characters; I didn’t find the book to be anti-Catholic on the whole, but some readers may be upset by the prejudices of the guy who is, otherwise, a swell protagonist. And most importantly: If you react like I did, you’re looking forward to a protracted bout of histronics when you hit that last page.
Jessica,
Did you figure out the reason for the anti-Catholic storyline? How would you suggest talking to inquisitive or objecting readers without giving away significant plot developments?
Andrew,
Actually, I never did figure out the reason for the protagonist’s anti-Catholicism. I could understand his anger toward some individual Catholics and toward one particular Catholic church, but the entire Catholic Church, and all of its members? I never did comprehend that.
I just finished another Irving novel, The Cider House Rules, which has a keenly pro-choice theme. Taking that into consideration, I begin to wonder if Irving himself– and not sure his characters, who do not necessarily represent the author’s views– is anti-Catholic.
So I’m not sure how to broach the topic with potential readers. The anti-Catholicism even made *me* uncomfortable. How would you approach it with potential readers?
I honestly don’t remember any overt commentary on religious institutions in Cider House Rules (though he doesn’t hesitate to target the judgmental and hypocritical), so I’d be surprised if Irving is using his characters as a megaphone to announce his own religious biases.
I think if you start with Owen as a Christ figure, you can look at the original to see where the parallels with Owen’s nasty streak might lay. Jesus didn’t take too kindly to the religious leaders of his day, cursing them in public and using them as examples of the pitfalls of religion. He even broke into their headquarters, vandalized their objects of veneration, and promised to tear the very temple down around their ears. Compared to that, Owen’s occasional editorials and even his defacing of the statue are pretty mild.
But Owen isn’t out to reform an entire institution. He knows from an early age the circumstances, though not the timing, of his sacrifice. He knows who is going to be there, and he knows what is going to happen to him. He doesn’t know if it will serve any purpose or even have any meaning. It is one of his many human failings that he takes petty revenge on innocents who have no idea where his hostility is coming from, and who aren’t even directly connected with those events.
This doesn’t answer the question about how to talk about it in advance with a reader who might be sensitive to the bias, but may help to put it in context if the question comes up.
Do you think this book also has a reaffirmating view to the Christianity? Like this book advise the readers into deeper christianity such as more worship or faith??
Elly: that’s an interesting question. The book is capable of affirming and deepening faith, definitely. It gave me new and better ways of thinking about my own religious beliefs. But it’s important to note that Irving doesn’t proselytize. Never at any point does he suggest that people ought to have a Christian faith. Most works of Christian fiction do try to nudge readers into the faith, at least elliptically. Irving doesn’t do that.
[…] Here’s a good reviewer/blogger, who discusses the religious or theological aspects of Owen Meany more directly. […]
This is the ugliest and most blatantly bigoted book I have ever read. I can’t imagine it even being published if he said the same things about Jewish people or Muslims, as he does about Catholics. And what is with THE CAPS – it is supposed to signify the uniqueness of Owen’s voice, BUT INSTEAD IT SOUNDS LIKE HE IS SHOUTING HIS BIGOTTED OPINIONS ALL OVER THE PLACE. I read Cider House Rules too. Irving is one of those authors who tries to ram his political thoughts down his readers throats. Most writers cleverly disguise that for the sake of art. Or at least do it in a subtle way, that doesn’t call attention to itself. Irving is just too obnoxious and heavy handed about it, for my taste. Plus it was obvious the kid’s father was the minister and that “the Play” would have something to do with Owen’s death. That was evident early in the book, but they acted like it was a big mystery.
Certainly not even in the same league as the Brothers Karamozov.
And this might clear things up, as to whether it was just a characterization of bigotry or whether Irving is himself a pathological hater of Catholics.
Novelist John Irving, asked by George magazine what he would outlaw, responded, “Visits to the country by the pope, unless he stops proselytizing. When he says that abortion is ‘an abominable crime, a senseless impoverishment of the person and of society itself,’ he’s just blowing more right-to-life hot air.” Waxing more intellectual by the minute, Irving concluded that the pope “should be pelted with ripe tomatoes.”
As a Catholic myself, I would like to say that even with the author’s supposed “anti-Catholic” biases, A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of the best books I have read in a while. Plus, towards the end of his life, Owen does start to turn around about his anti-Catholic views. He does help make a new and more beautiful Mary Magdalene statue after his defacing of it. Also, while he works as a body transport, he claims that Catholics give the best funerals. He actually complimented them there. Also, he dies in the arms of a nun in order to help the Vietnamese children that the Catholics were helping. This book is not entirely anti-Catholic.
I also happen to be a conservative, and if you look past his passages when he bashes Reagan and other conservatives, you will find a much deeper and more important storyline.
The anti-Catholic, liberal views of this book are not the point. You can find much more good in this story than bad and this is why I love this book so much.
Bailey, I wonder if you would be so forgiving of a book that ahd a main character screaming N*GGER….and SP*C…or ranting about JEW B*STARDS non-stop for 400 pages, well he died in the arms of a black woman or Rabbai, so it’s ok. On top of that, in real life the author is a Catholic Bigot.
You can spin it anyway you want but this is just bigotted filth from beginning to end. At least in Huckelberry Finn, you had a character that had some racist ideas and overcame them by the end of the book. Owen was every bit a bigot the day he died as he was on page one. Personally I thought he was a mean ornery little bugger, with no redeaming qualities at all. I liked some of Irvings earlier books but every book of his is just filled with angry bigotted rants. And his characters are only their to mask his personal prejudices.
LOL…you know aside from the anti-semitism Mein Kampf was a really inspiring book. You might want to try that book next Bailey
And about the funerals. I believe Owens exact words were:
I DIDN’T SAY CATHOLICS DID IT RIGHT. I SAID THEY DID IT BETTER THAN THE OTHER FAITHS.
So he was still criticizing them. At best it was what they call a left handed compliment
Having grown up in America, you are unaware of the prejudice Catholics had to face in other parts of the world. Jobs they were not permitted to have. Sports teams they could not play for. Persecutions, violence. Even in america the KKK was at one time more violently anti-catholic than anti-semetic. I doubt you would be so accepting of Catholic Bashing if you had to deal with that.
Said enough. I know you can’t really change the heart of a bigot. So why bother.
Ray – Blogging for a Good Book was established to post our staff reviews and to offer readers a chance to discuss the substance of the books. Your remarks are increasingly becoming disrespectful of other readers and veering away from discussion of A Prayer for Owen Meany. Please moderate your tone and return to talking about the book if you wish to continue contributing.
I see only one remark of mine that was admittedly off topic. Other than that I have provided quotes from the book and from the author, in answer to the question of Catholic-Bigotry which had been previously raised in the discussion. Which I would think was well within the relm of substance of the book. The capitalized letters is not my own personal anger. That is the way the author has the character of Oweny Meany speak. I did not at anytime disrespect, or insult anyone other reader. I would hope this blog was established with free-speech in mind. And that the moderators would leave their personal feelings out of the discussion. As bigoted a book as Prayer for Owen Meany is, I would still be against censoring. But the authors prejudice deserves to be exposed.
Dear Ray, thank you for your informative opinion. My child (10th grader) has to read this book for her English Honors class. We were required to buy the book for her and we have never been so mortified about our child’s summer reading. We started to flip through the book and found ourselves perplexed by the extent of such bigotry. We find the disdain for Catholics beyond the realm of reason. We did a quick search for other opinions and found so many people who share your/our opinion. We are so utterly disgusted that my wife and I for the first time will take immediate action at her school and expose not only the bigotry, but all the themes related to sex, pornography, female genitalia, the use of condoms — the list goes on and on. As I write I am highlighting sections that I plan to read out loud to her High School principle. I wonder if he knows what his students are reading. I plan to also email all my close friends and expose what our children will have to read and be tested on this fall. I am for the first time not only outraged but willing to take this complaint to school officials, school administrators and the news media if required. I think that reading as an adult is one thing but it is another to force a young child to have to read this kind of “literature” for a grade. Thank you for your comments.
Hi, I am the Hungarian translator of this book. I have to confess I hated every word of it (and there were WAY too much of them), but it was thought-provoking indeed.
And don’t think I didn’t do a brilliant work with it, because I did.
But while being a believer myself, if only in my very peculiar way, I found it very disturbing to have a view of God and a kind of faith so very (almost idiotically) narrow-minded and self-centered, proposed as somehow exemplary.
All the very long time along I had to struggle with the text, I struggled as well with my poor little mind: is it just me not noticing the IRONY? But then, if the whole was irony, it was overwhelmingly overwritten and pairlessly heavy-handed again. And if not irony… what then?
Owen’s “faith” is at its best a diagnosis of a deeply disturbed mind and psyche. And as to his being brilliant or genius – we get this statement shouted in our ears over and over again by the poor narrator, but try to read his sentences in themselves: they aren’t even bright enough for a really clever boy in a very backward school class of 15 year olds.