If you liked
Books like A Prayer for Owen Meany
by John Irving
A Prayer for Owen Meany builds a whole novel around a tiny boy with a wrecked voice who believes he is God's instrument, and somehow makes the payoff feel inevitable. John Irving writes fate, faith and friendship at full length. If you want more big-hearted, decades-spanning novels, read on.
The shortlist
What to read next
The Cider House Rulesby John Irving
“The Cider House Rules by John Irving 1985 review. An orphan raised at a Maine abortion-and-orphanage practice leaves to work at an apple orchard. Irving's structural masterwork before A Prayer for Owen Meany.”
The Dutch Houseby Ann Patchett
“The Dutch House by Ann Patchett 2019 review. A brother and sister exiled from their childhood home park on the curb across the street for fifty years. Pulitzer Prize finalist.”
Bel Cantoby Ann Patchett
“Bel Canto by Ann Patchett 2001 review. South American guerrillas take an opera singer and her audience hostage in a vice-presidential mansion. Orange Prize and PEN/Faulkner winner.”
The Heart's Invisible Furiesby John Boyne
“The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne 2017 review. Cyril Avery's life across seven decades - adopted out of 1945 Catholic Cork, navigating the closeted gay Ireland of the 1960s through the 2010s. Boyne's literary commercial masterwork.”
A Gentleman in Moscowby Amor Towles
“A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles 2016 review. Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced in 1922 to lifelong house arrest at the Hotel Metropol. Towles's second novel and one of the most consistently recommended contemporary American literary commercial titles of the past decade.”
Crossroadsby Jonathan Franzen
“Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen 2021 review. The Hildebrandt family across the first months of 1971 in suburban Chicago. Franzen's structural return to form and first book of the Key trilogy.”
FAQ
Common questions about A Prayer for Owen Meany read-alikes
- I want more John Irving.
- The Cider House Rules is the essential next read, his novel about an orphanage, abortion and the making of a good man, with the same mix of moral weight and warmth. It is the Irving most readers pair with Owen Meany.
- I want a novel about faith and a single unforgettable character.
- Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen centers a pastor's family and takes religion seriously as a subject. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett builds its own hushed, almost spiritual world out of a hostage crisis and an opera singer. Both share Owen Meany's belief that a life can mean something.
- I want the multi-decade family sweep.
- The Dutch House by Ann Patchett and The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne follow characters across a lifetime with humor and grief in balance. Either scratches the long-arc itch Irving satisfies.
- I want charm and a big warm heart.
- A Gentleman in Moscow is the pick, Amor Towles's decades-long story of a count under house arrest who refuses to be small. It shares Irving's fundamental generosity toward its characters.
The original