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Cargando... A prayer for Owen Meany (1989 original; edición 1989)por John Irving
Información de la obraOración por Owen por John Irving (1989)
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I have to give this one five stars, even though it's sometimes rambling and repetitive. It's a coming of age story told in first person, and it details the narrator's friendship with Owen Meany, a bright, opinionated dwarf with a speech disorder who is convinced that God has a destiny planned for him. John Irving is a truly masterful storyteller, with an ability for creating memorable but very human characters and for creating sweeping plots that in some ways reminds me of a modern Charles Dickens. The plot here is a bit improbable, but when it's such a powerful story you can't help but be moved. Some readers may have some difficulty getting into it because of the sometimes repetitive and seemingly beside the point recollections, but you should trust the storyteller. There will be a reason for everything. Truly moving and a real reading pleasure. Beautiful start of the book, by the way: “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.” The last time I read anything by this author was back in 1978, or thereabouts, when I read "The World According to Garp" which I didn't really care for. I wasn't all that captivated by the movie version of his "Cider House Rules", so wasn't in a hurry to read anything else by him, but a patron at the public library I was working in recommended this so I added it to my "want to read" list, where I think it sat for about a year. It's very long, especially if you listen to the audio version, but quite well-narrated, and really quite good. I was nearly finished when I played the beginning of it for my husband, and due to his interest, I ended up listening to the entire thing I'd already heard and then finally got to hear the end. I liked the many references to classic literature, the characters of the two boys, and their friendship. Another thing I especially like is that at no time, despite its length, does it wander aimlessly leaving you wondering if the author has any idea how it will end. This book explores the friendship between Owen Meaney and the narrator, John Wheelwright during the years after WWII into the Vietnam era. After Own accidentally kills John's mother, he believes he is God's instrument. His fate is unavoidable and he learns to accept it. He's always been in God's hands. The book deals with themes that permeate adult life after a certain age- faith, doubt, purpose, disillusionment, loss, and grief.
"Owen Meany" is as sappy as a book can get without having a title like "Coddled By The Light" or "Sauntering Towards the Light" or "Picking Posies in the Fields of the Light," but it's never nauseating or treacly or overly wholesome. It's a nice good fun read, like a quiet vacation. Irving isn't wrangling us with extremes, here -- he gives us a break. You've been beat up enough, he says. I'll do the work for you this time. The result is merciful, healthy, warm and gladdening. The characters capable of representing such scepticism don't look good on paper, while the book puts all its efforts into promoting a belief in belief. But a belief in belief is something this book lams into elsewhere: the Americans' propensity for decisiveness in the absence of policy. On the green award of the Gravesend Academy, it may seem innocent enough; in the jungles and deserts of international trouble spots, it looks fatally naive. Mr. Irving shows considerable skill as scene after scene mounts to its moving climax. But the thinking behind it all seems juvenile, preppy, is much too pleased with itself. There is something appropriate in the fact that so much of the book takes place in and around a New England academy. The heavily emphasized ''religious'' symbols at the center of the book - the contrast to American aggressiveness offered by the clawlessness of the armadillo, the armlessness of the Indian founder of the town, even John Wheelwright's imbecile joy at being mutilated as still another symbol of his sacrifice of sex to right thinking - all this reminds this long-tried teacher of all the ''Christ symbols'' his students find in everything and anything they have to read. Diminutive Owen Meany, believing himself to be God's instrument, unlocks life's mysteries for his closest friend in this imaginative mix of humor and tragedy. From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission. John Irving’s A Prayer For Owen Meany is yet another Irving book that absolutely held my attention, and had me racing to finish it. Irving, perhaps because of his own dyslexia, takes pains to write clearly and readably. He avoids labyrinthine construction. He earns his right to describe things by keeping the action moving. Pertenece a las series editorialesAndanzas (100) detebe (22491) Keltainen kirjasto (231) Keltainen pokkari (59) Tiene la adaptaciónAparece abreviada enTiene como guía de estudio aPremiosDistincionesListas Notables
John Wheelwright, hoy ya maduro, anglicano y virgen por convicción, recuerda cómo, a los once años, él y su mejor amigo, Owen Meany, un extraño niño enclenque y bajito, de voz quebradiza y una excepcional facultad de predicción, jugaban al béisbol en una pequeña ciudad cuando éste, tras una pelota fuera, mata a la madre de aquél. A partir de ahí, Irving nos introduce en una extraordinaria historia, tierna y terrible, cómica y amarga a la vez, llena de acontecimientos anómalos y a veces hasta milagrosos. Y, poco a poco, descubrimos por qué la provocadora fortaleza de Owen, que se hace llamar «el instrumento de Dios», ejercerá de por vida una mágica fascinación espiritual sobre los actos y sentimientos de John, cuya visión del american way of life se encarna en un pequeño armadillo mutilado y en un maniquí sin brazos, vestido de rojo, remedo de la adorada y hermosa madre muerta, imágenes las dos de un mundo impotente falto de apoyos. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Clasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
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So…I listened to this with a pretty naive and pure heart. Then I listened to the author answer some questions at the end and realized it was a deeper story than I had necessarily given it credit for. I love the friendship that Owen and Johnny had. Once in awhile I wondered if there was more to their relationship, but they were very passing thoughts. It always came back to the love between the very best of friends to me. Evidently the author did this very purposely and I think he did it brilliantly.
The religious aspect to Owen Meany was interesting too. He was represented as Christ-like; the author described him as a prophet and went on to say that prophets are frustrating to people; they can be annoying and condescending. This again was super subtle in the story and did not take over. You couldn’t help love and respect and yet be completely curious about Owen Meany. The author also describes Johnny as a disciple which I found fascinating.
John Irving quite perfectly began this story…
“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.”
and ended this story…
"O God—please bring him back! I shall keep asking You."
…and gave us everything else in between that we needed to know.
I wonder if I would have stayed as interested in the book if I had been reading it, but I was hooked to the audiobook and am finding myself curious about his other books too. (I know, I am pretty late to this party…but better late than never, right?!?) ( )