Thematically, however, Owen’s voice is the most striking signal of his otherness. Why is Owen’s voice different? There is a reason according to the plot. I imagine the voice of Linus from A Charlie Brown Christmas, slightly higher-pitched and perhaps louder. I don’t visualize things when I read (I can’t picture Owen’s creepy child proportions, no matter how hard I try), but I can imagine his voice. It’s impossible to convey that on the page, but Irving tries by rendering Owen’s dialogue in ALL CAPS-during Owen’s few speeches, these can run to paragraphs or a page. The eponymous character in this book has a distinctive, almost shrill pre-pubescent voice, even into adulthood. A Prayer for Owen Meany is a careful, tightly-managed piece of stage magic wrapped up into a book. John Irving is a master of the messed-up.
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