O is for Owen Meany
from A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
There was a time when John Irving was hands down my favorite author. I still love him but at a certain point just read too many of his novels and got a little worn out by his themes and tricks (which happens to me with any author after about 5 or 6 books). But Irving was a real gateway novelists for me. He is how I transitioned from reading solely Stephen King and Dean Koontz books to more literary authors like John Updike and Philip Roth. A Prayer for Owen Meany is actually not my favorite book by Irving. I’d place it third behind A World According to Garp and The Hotel New Hampshire but it was the first of his that I read and it had a pretty big affect me. I can still hear Owen’s wheezy, ALL CAPS voice in my head.
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