by Irving, John
First published 2012
John Wheelwright will never forget the summer of 1953 in Gravesend, New Hampshire. During a Little League game, his eleven-year-old best friend Owen Meany connects with a foul ball that strikes and kills John's mother in the stands. Owen, the smallest boy John has ever known, speaks in a peculiar damaged voice that makes him unforgettable. But Owen's size and voice matter less than his unshakeable conviction that accidents do not exist. He believes God chose him as an instrument of divine will. The tragedy that binds the two boys together becomes the foundation of something larger. Owen's certainty about his role in God's plan shapes both their lives in ways neither can imagine. What unfolds after that fatal foul ball transforms John's understanding of faith, friendship, and destiny. Through Owen Meany, John discovers belief itself.
Genres: literary-fiction, christian-fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: chosen-one, found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Gravesend, New Hampshire
Period: 1953
640 pages · ebook · William Morrow