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If you have read as much of John Irving as I have, you will probably know too, that Irving is always haunted by his ghosts. The recurring themes in all his novels- the mother who was loved dearly and died early, or went away address unknown, the closet gay, even the bizarre transgendered character appearing here and there. the self-flagellation of the catholic masochist is ridiculed occasionally but described in detail, another element is having moved to Canada for a reason, either to find the lost mother/being the lost mother or to get away from the military...
Owen Meany in the end turns out to be an anti-war treatise, a pacifist's novel. About somebody who would rather cut of a part of his finger with a stone saw than to be enlisted as a recruit for the army.
I enjoyed it vastly, the touching love of detail with which he described the childhood of the two main characters, seen from the inside of the childish mind, incl. the magic thinking. The speaking stuffed armadillo who replaces the absentee father and who can also do fortune telling and is kind of spooky somehow...the desperate attempts to win at cricket (or baseball?), the embarrassing roles one is given at school dramas...
The only draw back is that in the end the construction/constructedness of the novel becomes obvious. "One realises the intention and resents it" as we say in Germany. Finally it started to remind me of an interview with Johannes Mario Simmel, the bestselling German author, that I once read. "How do you write your novels, Mr. Simmel?" "Oh, first I take a large sheet of brown paper, spread it on the table, pencil in all the characters who are going to appear, and then I draw lines between them, to show the connections..."
The construction layout in Owen Meany's case seemed a little too forced to remain subtle enough to go unnoticed , in the end.
Having said that, I still recommend the book as a high enjoyable, compelling read.
Along with all his other books, though I would skip the "Hotel New Hampshire", it is a little too odd for my taste. Also "Garp" I did not particularly enjoy, and sometimes Irving gets a little too depressing, teary and emotional, but mainly, these novels are a wealth of wisdom, life experience and sensitivity for people's characters. Moreover they are well researched, usually.
Owen Meany in the end turns out to be an anti-war treatise, a pacifist's novel. About somebody who would rather cut of a part of his finger with a stone saw than to be enlisted as a recruit for the army.
I enjoyed it vastly, the touching love of detail with which he described the childhood of the two main characters, seen from the inside of the childish mind, incl. the magic thinking. The speaking stuffed armadillo who replaces the absentee father and who can also do fortune telling and is kind of spooky somehow...the desperate attempts to win at cricket (or baseball?), the embarrassing roles one is given at school dramas...
The only draw back is that in the end the construction/constructedness of the novel becomes obvious. "One realises the intention and resents it" as we say in Germany. Finally it started to remind me of an interview with Johannes Mario Simmel, the bestselling German author, that I once read. "How do you write your novels, Mr. Simmel?" "Oh, first I take a large sheet of brown paper, spread it on the table, pencil in all the characters who are going to appear, and then I draw lines between them, to show the connections..."
The construction layout in Owen Meany's case seemed a little too forced to remain subtle enough to go unnoticed , in the end.
Having said that, I still recommend the book as a high enjoyable, compelling read.
Along with all his other books, though I would skip the "Hotel New Hampshire", it is a little too odd for my taste. Also "Garp" I did not particularly enjoy, and sometimes Irving gets a little too depressing, teary and emotional, but mainly, these novels are a wealth of wisdom, life experience and sensitivity for people's characters. Moreover they are well researched, usually.
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Re: A prayer for Owen Meany
Wed, June 17, 2009 - 9:00 AMI read it a couple of years ago, it is the only Irving book I have read. I enjoyed it although it is not the type of book I typically read. Some of the devices used I found annoying, but they were necessary for the story and it would have been a totally different book without them.
I didn't see it as an anti-war treatise all that much. There is definitely some anti-war stuff in it. The narrator's/main character's strident anti-war and anti-US stance is heavily criticized by other characters and I think the whole finger cutting off episode was driven more by fear of going to war than any kind of idealistic or pacifistic stance. It has been a long while since I read it though, so I could be misremembering.
Entertaining book though. It didn't draw me in enough to read more Irving though. -
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Re: A prayer for Owen Meany
Wed, June 17, 2009 - 10:07 AMFear of going to war and pacifism have a lot in common, Bink. And of course, Irving's style would package pacifism in something like that, artistic freedom, this is a novel after all. Pacifism is what I call the idea behind inventing such a scene.
Yes, Owen Meany is not Irving's best book but it is a pretty nice one.
Try "Cider House Rules". Interestingly, the German title of "Cider House Rules" is "God's work and Devil's contribution".
As a footnote: there is a movie made from this book, but the book was rewritten for the movie, at least the last part. They cut out all the scandalous adultery bits, the "befriending of the man who sleeps with your wife" and such, to make it more palatable and less upsetting and scandalous for the run-of-the-mill American movie goer. Avoiding controversy and angry critics who might have trashed Irving in public. I wonder how the anti-abortion lobby managed to get over the appearance of this book.
Always interesting to see what happens to a good novel when Hollywood gets it's hands on it. Did anyone notice what they did to "Under the Tuscan sun"? Turned the lady who lives happily with her boyfriend in Italy after her divorce and has her kids come over to visit occasionally (the real one who is the author of the book) intop the character played by Diane Lane, who is, yes, a divorcee, but an extremely unhappy one who misses her husband, spends weeks crying over the divorce, is lonely and scared in her new house in Italy and needs lots of help from the strong men in the neighbourhood. Not like the original story at all. I guess, Hollywood did not like that one. Just like they could not deal with the adultery/girlfriend or wife sharing among friends as a fairly natural act, the way it is described in Cider House Rules. That book is way way better than the movie. A tribute to all the downtrodden, abandoned, abused, orphaned but brave and inventive Huckleberry-characters in this world. ; )
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