I mentioned in yesterday's post that John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany" has one of the best opening lines I've ever read. If you've seen the movie Simon Birch, then you have heard this line spoken by Jim Carey of all people. Simon Birch was a miserable failure at converting this book to a movie though a decent movie on its own. Irving sold the rights to Owen Meany but asked them to change the character's name and the title of the film since it was so different from the book.
Opening line from memory; I apologize if the punctuation isn't correct:
"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."
The book does have some failings, Irving tends to side track on some political commentary via the narrator, John Wheelwright, but the overall story is worth reading.
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Actually, according to CNN he praised Simon Birch:
ReplyDelete"Author John Irving says he's happy with the way his novel, "A Prayer for Owen Meany," was treated in movie form. The film version, retitled "Simon Birch," is being released September 11. "It's not 'A Prayer for Owen Meany' but I liked it," Irving says, "and I'm happy with the way I was treated.""
http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/News/9809/03/showbuzz/
Interesting to note and very different from other stories I had read at the time. I never did catch the CNN article until now. I'll update the blog, thanks!
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have the lines from this movie about how we feel after someone dies? It's the part of the movie after Simon's mother dies.
ReplyDeleteThank you in advance.