A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989)
0.1294Canon Score · ranked #201 all time
Aggregated from 5 of 14 authoritative lists, weighted by authority and adjusted for each list's scope and age. How scoring works →
About the book
"I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice - not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany." So begins John Irving's new novel.
Why it ranks #201
Every list on which A Prayer for Owen Meany appears, with its position as published.
| List | Authority | Position |
|---|---|---|
| PBS Great American Read (2018) | Editorial list | #3 / 100 |
| BBC Big Read Top 200 (2003) | Editorial list | #28 / 200 |
| OCLC/WorldCat Top 500 Novels (2019) | Editorial list | #490 / 500 |
| Guardian 1000 Novels (2009) | Critics' canon | Selected |
| 1001 Books You Must Read (union) | Critics' canon | Selected |