Finny
Justin Kramon
2010
366 pages
Published by Random House
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I received this book from the publisher as I am participating in a TLC tour for Finny. This concludes the obligatory FTC disclosure.
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So today I’m a tour stop for Finny. And I usually take my duties as a tour host semi-seriously (because full on serious is pretty hard for me to pull off). But I realized a typical “this is what the book is about and this is what I thought of it” post just wasn’t going to happen in this case. You’ll see why in a minute.
This is a quirky little book, and you all know I’m all about the quirk. The characters are odd (mostly in a good way) and totally realistic, and slightly odd (and once again, still realistic) things happen (spice scene, I’m looking at you).
I liked Finny. I really did. And I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking there’s going to be a but.
And you’re right, there’s a but. But it’s all on me. You see, Earl (the major guy character) reminded me just a bit of Owen Meany, the LOUD little dude from A Prayer for Owen Meany, which turned out to be a pretty torturous read for me. I’m not even sure where the mental image of Owen came from. Maybe it’s because Earl was first described as short. And because I wasn’t really crazy about either Owen or Earl (as people, which is different from liking them as a character, which is a whole ‘nother discussion). I mean yeah, I liked them sometimes, but there were also times when I wanted to grab them by the shoulders and shake them. So what ended up happening was I kept hearing poor Earl’s lines being shouted at me in my head just like I visualized (or is it audiolized?) Owen Meany sounding. And yes, I realize I sound crazy. I promise I don’t normally hear voices. But Owen is pretty hard to ignore.
Anyhoosie, John Irving is beloved by many people, so maybe this Owen comparison isn’t a bad thing?
Do you ever have a book remind you of another book in a totally off the wall way? And then you struggle to block that image from your mind to no avail? Or am I all alone here?
Gawd, I hope the author doesn’t read this. But if he does? Mr. Kramon, I swear I liked your book. Great characters (despite my little Earl as Owen issue), great story progression (I like how we follow Finny through adolescence and early adulthood), and I think you’ve got a fun, yet slightly twisted, sense of humor. Next time though, I’d appreciate it if you could not remind me of Owen Meany. Thanks. Oh, and please don’t forward this to Mr. Irving. Thanks again.
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What’s that you say? You want to know what the book’s about? Well, if you go read the TLC page for Finny, you’ll find a much more rational explanation of the book. And you can find out who else has been talking about the book (again, much more rationally than me).
I’ve seen this book around the blogger community and am on the fence with picking it up. But I am an Irving fan.
I am not sure if this book is for me. Don’t know why though.
I have seen this book around a lot but for some reason I am unsure about it. I definitely want to read A Prayer for Owen Meany at some point though!
I liked Owen Meany and I think I would have a hard time if a character reminded me too much of him.
I liked the book a lot and can kind of see the Earl as Owen thing, but I loved Owen, so it wouldn’t have been a distraction for me at all.
Jill, thanks so much for the review. I love everyone’s quirky takes on the book — that’s part of the fun of publishing it, being able to share it with readers, and I try to write in a way that leaves the book open for a lot of different reactions/interpretations. So I’m really happy to see the way you’ve filled in the spaces. Thanks for taking the time with my novel.
Christina, thanks for considering the book. I’m also a big Irving fan, and one of the main motivations for writing this book was to be able to create a big coming-of-age story in the style of Irving and Dickens — but to do that with a female character.
Veens, as much as authors wish their books would be perfect for every reader, you realize pretty early that’s never true. So I’m just glad so many people have found Finny a good fit for them, but I absolutely understand if it’s not for everyone.
Stephanie, I hope you enjoy A Prayer for Owen Meany. It definitely is a book that sticks with you — as Jill shows in her review!
Lu, I think I’d have a hard time with that, too!
I actually haven’t read Owen Meany so I certainly wasn’t reminded of him when I read this one!
Did enjoy Kramon’s quirky, twisted sense of humor though!
I really liked this book, and thought that the quirky characters really took the cake. I haven’t read Owen Meany though, so I didn’t have the same Owen voice in my head, but I can imagine that might have been frustrating. I thought that Kramon did a great job of making his characters real, and at times, in one case it made me a little uncomfortable, but overall, I thought this was a great story. I particularly liked the bit about the foreign fruit.
You’re not nuts. I hear audio in my head. Or maybe we’re just nuts together. Either way, I would probably run screaming if a character reminded me in any way of OWEN MEANY since I didn’t even make it through that book. Now if he reminded me of Homer from Cider House Rules, I would do much better.
Sounds like a great book, in all seriousness.
Owen Meany? Really? I just reviewed that particular book, posting tomorrow, but as a preview, Owen drove me insane too, and I had the pleasure (?) of listening to him on audio. I still want to read Finny, but you have definitely made me quite cautious.
You totally crack me up! Earl’s character is an odd one though, I’ll give you that. One of the girls in my book club kept picturing him as a Little Person or some strange dwarf-like guy because of the first description of him.
Okay, I don’t want to read OWEN MEANY now, but I DO want to read FINNY. I’m with you on the quirkiness, and so far you’re batting a thousand with the quirky books you’ve recommended to me (We Have Always Lived in the Castle and Geek Love).
Oh, I totally sympathize with this. It happens to me all the time, with books and in real life – someone will remind me of someone else in a superficial way, but once I’ve made the mental association I can’t un-connect the two in my mind. So my reaction to the someone else permanently colors my reaction to the someone.
Hmmm…that is odd that another character from another book totally hijacked your reading experience.
Whew am I glad that the characters I kept relating these to were Dickens’ characters!
Another blogger just sent this one to me, and I’m looking forward to reading it. I haven’t read Owen Meany , so I can’t comment on that, but I’m really looking forward to this one. For some reason, even after reading many reviews, I didn’t realize it was about a woman (how sexist of me to assume male author and Finny as a man), so clearly other bloggers are having trouble describing the book. Still, quirky is a good thing, and I hope to join in the conversation soon.
Oh, I’m laughing… Owen Meany was quite an experience, yes?
I am glad I have not read Owen Meany. But I read this book this summer and I luuuuuurved it. So quirky fabulous, without being annoyingly quirky.