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.
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