Posted by mair on June 15, 2002, at 22:15:16
In reply to Owen Meany, Literature and real life, posted by susan C on June 15, 2002, at 19:06:11
Susan
I loved this book both times I read it - maybe this time even more than the first. I think John Irving does a wonderful job of taking a rather remarkable story and weaving it into the fabric of historical events. However alot of what amazes me about this book is just the novelty of the plot. Bits and pieces of the characters seem familiar to me, maybe more so because I've spent much of my life in northern New England and know many places that could be Gravesend. Maybe that's the deal - Irving can create a really unusual plot where alot of very unusual things happen, and pull it off because he does it in the context of actual events, in a place that seems familiar to many and with people who have enough of us or someone we know in them to seem more believable than they actually are.
I've never really thought about this - I dislike science fiction and other sorts of true fantasy books, but i'm not wild about stuff that seems too realistic either, and thus somehow derivative. I don't have to identify with characters at all - I just need to find them interesting. I think the books I tend to prefer are probably more descriptive and longer on character development than they are on plot. Somehow this one just fit the bill for me. I guess this is a way of saying that no, I didn't find it to be particularly realistic, although I can identify some with the times.
Mair, puzzled as usual
PS: Did you find Owen Meany at all like the character Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird? I loved the way that Owen seemed so precocious and so adept at getting what he wanted. He sounds sometimes like an old maiden aunt or something, even when he's quite young.
poster:mair
thread:495
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/books/20020206/msgs/496.html