A Prayer for Owen Meany

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.
- A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

That's a great opening paragraph for a novel. I could tell you why the narrator is a Christian and how Owen Meany was the instrument of his mother's death, but I don't want to spoil it for you. It's a sad and moving story.