Considering the prominent religious aspects of the story, I was surprised to learn that he is an atheist. I listened to the audiobook version of this story, which ends with a 30 minute interview with Irving. It subverted some of the expectations that had been building up since the beginning, and made the meandering pace feel worth it in my opinion.

So many disparate plot threads and unresolved questions, all tied up in a very satisfying way. I agree that after such a lengthy story, the ending came together almost strangely fast! I was impressed with how neatly it was concluded, though. Part of me is impressed with how everything came together but I also felt like the ending was a bit rushed? The book’s story is sooooo drawn out and then the big final.' Mod Diane wrote: 'I finally finished this book. I ventured into Irving-Land after this one and haven't been disappointed with them so far!

I suppose, Monika, without getting into the movie and my opinions of it, you could read previous comments made by me in this thread or the thread in which I originally made the suggestion to read it. But apparently, the screenwriter's and director's vision wasn't the same as mine. Simon Birch will never live up to what I see as the real story. And, yes, I believe it's one of those stories which is more difficult to translate to film. Yes, because of this, it can be the omniscient storyteller in a way. I like John's telling of the story because it sounds like a really long diary (broken into chapters). Even with his first novel, Setting Free the Bears, he used the technique somewhat. John Irving does seem to include elements of that writing style into his books. I'm not sure why it seems to work in my imagination though. So now I feel like anything realistic on screen would not be as striking while anything like what I'm imagining would just seem over-the-top ridiculous in film. I haven't seen the movie so I can't speak to whether it's good or not, but I would guess anyone expecting the same story as the book will be disappointed.Īs I'm reading the book, I also just can't imagine any film doing it justice! I think I've created some exaggerated caricature in my head for Owen Meany (and the other characters to be honest). I read somewhere that John Irving did not approve of the changes made to the story for this particular adaptation - my impression was that he did not necessarily dislike the film, but did not think it was representative of his book or did not want people to get the wrong impression of his book, so he didn't let them keep the name Owen Meany. Paula wrote: 'The film adaptation, 'Simon Birch,' is not a bad movie, but a poorly rendered version of 'A Prayer for Owen Meany.' The story is a good one, but veers far from the novel.

A prayer for owen meany book