A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

Family, friendship, Vietnam, the absurdity of war in general, religion, faith, the possibility of miracles - this is THAT book.  I read it somewhere in the 90's and because it is "my generation" it is still relevant to me but may be universal enough to speak to even the millenials.  Not to mention that fact that it appears in high school required reading lists in many places even today.  It is the same Irving cast of quirky characters in weirdly believable situations.  In fact he acknowledges that he recycled some of the characters from his earlier books.  Can you plagiarize yourself?   As usual, there is fodder for many good conversations.