Key themes
- Faith as something you are compelled into rather than choosing
- The Vietnam War and its effect on a generation
- Owen Meany as a character who knows his fate — and what that knowledge costs
About this book
Owen Meany, a small boy with an unnaturally high voice who believes he is God's instrument, kills his best friend John's mother with a foul ball — and then reveals he has seen a vision of how and when he will die. Irving's most celebrated novel interweaves the Vietnam era, New Hampshire prep school life and a meditation on faith as something you are forced into, not chosen.
Published in 1989, A Prayer for Owen Meany was Irving's most acclaimed novel after The World According to Garp. He described it as his most personal book, drawing on his own experiences at a New England prep school and his views on the Vietnam War.
Discussion questions
- Owen Meany believes he is God's instrument — that his life has a purpose he has been shown. How does Irving develop this faith — and does the novel ask you to believe it?
- The novel is narrated retrospectively by John, who has become a Canadian émigré partly defined by his alienation from America after Vietnam. How does this political dimension work alongside the personal and theological?
- Owen's voice is written in capitals throughout. What does this formal choice achieve — and what would a more conventional representation of his distinctive voice lose?
- The novel's plot is built toward a specific event — Owen's death and its circumstances. How does Irving build toward this — and does the denouement satisfy?
- A Prayer for Owen Meany has been described as Irving's best novel. What does it achieve — and where does its ambition sometimes outrun its execution?
Get the book
Links open an Amazon search. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Read together or read next
Books that make a good pairing or natural follow-up.
Reading it with your group?
Get A Prayer for Owen Meany
As an Amazon Associate and Bookshop.org affiliate we earn from qualifying purchases.