A Prayer For OWEN MEANY

I was told: Read this book. It will make you cry. It didn't make me cry, though I was trying very hard not to at the time. Though this novel by John Irving did take about 2 months to finish, it was a very worthwhile read. A brief summary: This is an account of Johnny Wheelwright's life as it connects to the life of one OWEN MEANY. Both boys grow up together and share the normal experiences of two awkward children, except for one vitally different event: the death of Johnny's mother. And OWEN MEANY had some sort of hand in it (I'd rather not give away too much of the plot, even though for the first 50 pages, you may doubt it's existence). The plot is includes a search for Johnny's father and the face that OWEN is haunted by the divine. If you are looking for a light read exempt of theology and other heavy matters, this isn't the book for you. The book doesn't deal with the question of whether God exists so much as how God exists.

Let me talk about Johnny. It's funny how easy it is to forget the supposed main character's name. This is due to the fact that a narrator wouldn't refer to himself in first person, and because John Irving wants to assert very subtly that Johnny, in fact, is not the main character. OWEN is. Johnny is exceedingly average: average intelligence, average extended family, average and mild. He grows up to be an English teacher in Canada and very single.

Let me talk about OWEN MEANY. I may be confusing those of you who haven't read this book by my caps lock. Those of you who have read it have probably grinned by now. I will explain. OWEN is extraordinary in almost every sense of the word. He is absolutely brilliant, compassionate, and very concerned with doing the right thing in the right way. He also has a special kind of charisma that either draws people to him or frightens them away. Part of that is his voice. His voice is so soft and high that he is forced to yell everything he says in order to be heard and he transfers this quality to his writing - writing everything in CAPS LOCK. In fact, every time he communicates in the book, vocal or written, it is in all caps. This odd puny quality matches his body structure; it is so light almost anyone could lift him, and sometimes did. And yet he works in a granite quarry which his family owns. The weak is strong.

This novel focuses on OWEN MEANY and his goal in life. As the novel progresses, you are very aware that OWEN has a special connection with God and divines from him, slowly, his fate. I would really like to say more about OWEN MEANY'S purpose, but that gives away a lot. Anyhow, A PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY IS A VERY GOOD BOOK. IT WILL BRING MANY QUESTIONS AND IDEAS ABOUT LIFE AND FATE AND GOD INTO LIGHT AND WILL DEFINITELY MAKE YOU THINK. PLEASE READ IT, WHETHER OR NOT IT MAKES YOU CRY.

This has been a good week.

NO, this post isn't about a book I've read or some some sort of nice analysis. Though I have read A Prayer for Owen Meany recently and it will be appearing in a post down the line...I think I kinda decided Grendel didn't quite get that privilege. Time difficulties. I also read the nonfiction book How to Become a Writer or How to write fiction or Something Like That. It was proclaimed, oddly by the writer of Grendel, to be the Strunk and White of writing fiction. Written in the 20s or 30s, it was very good and focused a lot on the writer's disposition and good writing habits. Overall, quite wonderful. I would go more in depth, but I gave it away, as I would do to all my books if I weren't quite so in love with them. BUT. This post is about how this has been a very good week for me as far as books are concerned.

1. Far from the Madding Crowd. Thanks to Sheffield's Antique Mall in Collierville and fifteen dollars, I am the proud owner of my favorite Thomas Hardy novel. It is a very pretty 1932 edition. I loooooovvvvee this book. It is the sole reason why I keep on reading Hardy novels...hoping they'll be like the first I read. None have measured up so far.

2. Les Miserables. My lovely, beautiful friend Zach has most kindly given me his copy of Les Mis. Naturally, I am ecstatic. I cannot wait to dive into the novel I left behind 2 months ago...

3. One of Our Thursdays is Missing. BAAAaahahernar;j!!!!!! That stands for OH MY GOODNESS JASPER FFORDE IS MY FAVORITIST!!!!! This novel is the 6th in the Thursday Next series. My brother went to his booksigning in St. Louis. He got me an autographed copy for my birthday!!!!! In three weeks I'm going to have it to hold and to read. I'm veryveryveryveryveryvery excited. Thursday Next!!!

For good measure: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's a good week.

!

I can't help reposting this....

"Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilightseries.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes."

— Rosemary Urquico (via kblitz)