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What makes a story unforgettable? A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving remains the most unforgettable story for me. I read it over fourteen years ago~I remember the number of years because my daughter was less than two-years-old when I sat in a comfy chair next to the picture window bawling while finishing the last fifty pages as she napped in her nursery. I was determined to finish the novel before she woke up~I even planned on possibly ignoring her if she awoke as I was finishing it. The narrator of A Prayer for Owen Meany is John Wheelwright, the descendant of an independent Congregationalist minister of the same name. Owen Meany is his best friend and the cause of John's mother's death. Owen is a Christ figure~he plays the role of baby Jesus in the church play, the other kids "hang" him on a coat rack in Sunday School, and is splayed in a crucified manner at his death. Owen believes that everything about his own life and death is ordained by God and foresees ...