A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, 5/5

This novel is about the life of the diminutive, brilliant, earnest, prophetic, strangely-voiced, otherworldly Owen Meany, as seen through the eyes of his best friend.  Reading this book was the most surprising literary experience I’ve had since enjoying War and Peace.  I got it out of the library at the same time as The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and unreasonably expected it to be similarly horrid.  However, unlike most modern authors I’ve experienced, Irving didn’t waste my time and leave me feeling dirty and insulted.  The writing was so good, the characters so strangely believable, and the situations so oddly beautiful that the whole endeavor seemed inspired.