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  • Let me start by saying I really disliked this book. It's getting 2 stars because my copy has a huge photo of the author on the back cover with his arms crossed and this look on his face that says, "Yeah, I wrote this piece of crap. What are you gonna do about it?" And that's just funny to me and ... Continue

    Let me start by saying I really disliked this book. It's getting 2 stars because my copy has a huge photo of the author on the back cover with his arms crossed and this look on his face that says, "Yeah, I wrote this piece of crap. What are you gonna do about it?" And that's just funny to me and deserving of the second star :D

    This is a book about a nasty, unlikable set of kids who grow into nasty, unlikable teens and then later nasty, unlikable adults. I really wish they all would have died. I especially wish Owen would have died very early in the book because his dialog WHICH WAS TYPED INTO ALL CAPS EVERY SINGLE FREAKING TIME HE SPOKE was extremely annoying. I guess the author figured he was too lousy of a writer to get the description of Owen's voice across using the English language, so instead he has to scream it in your face the whole time. The reader is supposed to read the descriptions of how Owen speaks and then be able to understand he is kinda screechy. The reader does not need the author to screech it for us the whole time.

    The whole book was also freaking boring. Nothing interesting happened and the characters, despite one of them being quite small, were also not interesting. I kept falling asleep every time I picked up the book.

    I feel like my time was extra wasted because you go through the whole life of the main character, only to have him come out as an absolute obnoxious asshole as an adult. There's no point to the character's journey if you get to the end and really, really wish he had died. Preferably in some horrendous and painful way.

    I also don't get the point of making this mostly real life stuff, and then putting in the fantasy aspects of the virgin birth and the visions of the future, ect. Pick a genre, dude!

    I also thought the ending was really ridiculous to the point of being comical. I feel like the author spit in my face and said, "Oh and by the way, the hokey pokey IS what it's all about."

    Ignore the hype and skip this book.

    

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• ― Deanna Kyre said on Mar 4, 2009 about the Hardcover edition| Add your feedback

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  • This has always been my favorite John Irving novel!

    

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• ― Jamie Gemuend767 said on Feb 24, 2009 | Add your feedback

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  • This is my favorite Irving book. I found this book to be quite moving. Owen practices his entire life without realizing how important he will be.

    

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• ― Batona said on Apr 1, 2007 about the Hardcover edition| Add your feedback

Owen Meany, the only child of a New Hampshire granite quarrier, believes he is God's instrument; he is.
This is John Irving's most comic novel, yet Owen Meany is Mr. Irving's most heartbreaking character.
"Roomy, intelligent, exhilarating and darkly comic...Dickensian in scope....Quite stunning and very ambitious."
LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK REVIEW
"John Irving is an abundantly and even joyfully talented storyteller."
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOKR EVIEW

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