Lara Stephens

I remember reading that John Irving would not have the book narrated until he found THE VOICE, and Joe Barrett's delivery is perfect.
I hadn't read this book in 10 years, and I never considered it a favorite until now. I've listened to the book slowly to savor it. The story is so rich in detail and emotion that you can't keep yourself from falling in love with the characters. Irving gives such life to Owen Meany that he becomes a real instrument of God. (And I don't even believe in god.) You must listen to or read this book if you consider yourself a reader.

I know Stephen King is much more than a horror author, but he's expressed the complex emotions of grief just as well as John Irving in Lisey's Story. The plot is a perfect mix of the emotional, the supernatural, and the dramatic.

I couldn't make it through this book. I didn't like the narrator's voice. The details are tedious. I could sympathize with Langley's radical opposition to society, but Homer's aloof regard of the situation was disengaging. This was my first time listening to or reading Doctorow, and I think it will also be my last.