The other way that the author achieves this is by showing us that all the likeable characters in the book stay in Owen’s corner, as well.

even when he is irksome it is usually in opposition to even more irksome forces. One way this is done is by making Meany relatively reasonable, moral, and consistent – i.e. This is no small feat as the boy can be a bit of a pill, being a self-important know-it-all with a Biblical level of faith and (in some cases) dogmatism, as well as – oddly enough – a palpable disrespect for his own parents. One fascinating aspect of character development is that Irving keeps the reader in Owen Meany’s corner. (John comes from money but Owen is from a struggling blue-collar family, and so Owen couldn’t go to the prestigious school otherwise – even though he is academically much more suitable for such an educational environment.) John’s mother, Tabitha Wheelwright, is as much a mother figure to him as to John, both because Owen’s mother is ambiguously not right in the head and because Tabitha says she will pay for anything necessary (beyond the scholarship he is sure to get) to allow Owen to go to the Gravesend Academy. The close relationship between Wheelwright and Meany is fire-forged by the trauma of Meany hitting a foul ball that careens into the temporal lobe of John’s mother, killing her instantaneously (and, perhaps more crucially, the relationship survives the the revelation that Owen believes he is God’s instrument.) It should be pointed out that Owen is also devastated by the foul ball killing. Spiritually, he is not only a person of iron-clad faith, he also believes he is God’s instrument. Conversely, physically he is the tiniest kid in class and never grows out of that position, and he has a strange and grating voice that also isn’t cured by puberty. Mentally, he is at the top of his class and is often the smartest person in the room even when the room contains adults. Owen Meany is a fascinating character mentally, physically, and spiritually. The story revolves around the relationship between the titular character, Owen Meany, and the narrator – who is also Meany’s best friend, John Wheelwright.

The reader is always asking questions that are teased out until (at the optimal time) a revelation is made, but by that time one has a new slate of questions – all of which are resolved by book’s end. Irving maintains one’s attention through masterful revelation.

Otherwise, if one misses a time transition, one is lost - and then the reading becomes a tedious slog. Stories that jump about in time have to keep the reader in a rapt state of attention and need to be written with multiple cues as to where one is in the timeline. One indication of this is that it is both highly readable and often nonlinear in storytelling. This is an oldie (originally published in 1989,) but I just got to it and must say that it’s one of the most skillfully crafted novels I’ve read in some time.

A prayer for owen meany book