A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving 543 Pages

This sometimes laugh-out-loud tale is told from the point of view of Johnny whose best friend is Owen Meany, a tiny kid with a big intellect and a voice so high he commands everyone’s attention. It is also Owen’s belief that he is an instrument of God and when he accidently kills Johnny’s mother with a baseball, he puts into motion what Owen believes is his destiny as an adult.

The story begins in a quaint town in New Hampshire in the 1950s, and is full of believable, flawed, funny characters but it is the character of Owen who is fully fleshed out and the most interesting. The story follows the boys through adulthood and loops around to bring home how what we do in childhood often sets in motion what we do in adulthood. In this book, character is most assuredly, destiny.