DATo
Active Member
Reading A Prayer For Owen Meany, by John Irving for the first time and loving it. I had not seen the movie, Simon Birch which is based upon this novel, nor have I engaged in any discussions regarding this book so the entire story is new to me. I am about half-way through it as I submit this post.
I find myself captivated by the central character and his philosophies, as well as the author's understated delivery of equal measures of comedy and tragedy. Character development of all the characters is done in such a manner as to produce an immediate eidetic image of the character being described, and though I am not a fan of excessive digressions I find that Irving's digressions and subplots are not only interestingly clever but tangentially lend themselves to the story's fundamental aura and style.
The two most important ingredients required for my own appreciation of a novel are, in equal measure, the story itself, and the style in which it is written. Irving succeeds on both levels so far in this novel in my estimation.
I find myself captivated by the central character and his philosophies, as well as the author's understated delivery of equal measures of comedy and tragedy. Character development of all the characters is done in such a manner as to produce an immediate eidetic image of the character being described, and though I am not a fan of excessive digressions I find that Irving's digressions and subplots are not only interestingly clever but tangentially lend themselves to the story's fundamental aura and style.
The two most important ingredients required for my own appreciation of a novel are, in equal measure, the story itself, and the style in which it is written. Irving succeeds on both levels so far in this novel in my estimation.
