What readers think of The Gospel According To Larry, plus links to write your own review.

aFTER YOU'VE READ THE BOOK GO TO WWW.THEGOSPELACCORDINGTOLARRY.COM i REALLY THIN THIS IS A TRUE STORY. aCCORDING TO THE MAP AT THE LARRY WEBSITE HE IN BOULDER CO AT THE U.OF CO. ITS A GREAT BOOK! I MAY BE STUPID BUT IM SURE ITS A TRUE STORY!

It escapes me why anyone would enjoy this book, nevermind read it. I read it because it was a summer rewading book and my options were limited, I have to say I hated it. As much as he tries to sound right and making a difference, he sounds like total jackass.
"I only have 75 things! I'm special!"
"People in 3rd world countries live off of 2 DOLLARS a day"(mentioned twice)
thats nice, but this is not a 3rd world country, this is the United States, I don't see you trying to live off the $2 a day you mentioned, why? its not possible, not in this society anyway, so don't shove these things onto me

this book is exciting, but confusing over if it is fact or fiction

I grabbed this book off the shelf at my local library, never expecting to actually like it when i read it. I only took it because I hadnt read it yet, and it was the first book i came accross that Looked even remotely interesting. But boy was i wrong!
This book amazed me. And, no kidding, i got it at 9:00, began to read at about 11:30, and i didnt put it down once, untill i finnished it. wich was at about 3:00 in the morning. And then, crazy thing, i woke up dreaming about it. And that has never happend to me before. I have read many books, and stayed up late many times. But never once dreamed about a book i had read.
This book has left an Impact on me, in more ways than one. When i began reading the letter from the author, i was like: "okay so this is a true story." and then, getting into the book itself, i was amazed at the things that happened. i began to wonder if it was, infact, true. after all it was published as Fiction.
Now i Honestly have no idea what to believe, but i will believe in the messsage of the story.
And i will believe in myself.

this book hit me hard... it was so wonderful, telling the world what the some of us need to say, we may be just some teens but our minds form young america.

   This book was brought to me by a book order, I thought this book would be rebelias(Spell check), and it is, for a while, but if bought or rented this beause of the same reason I did, be aware!

Saying this book is a great influence and "changing the world" is like sitiing in an empty auditorium with a single violin playing, and calling it a symphony. It's a nice start, but if you're going to try to influence others, you've got to have more than one message, and a message that doesn't make me want to puke at that.

Seriously, the only "point" that Josh ever tried to make ws anti-consumerism, which is sketchy to begin with. Sure, people buy things they don't need all the time. But that isn't the fault of the companies themselves, it's the fault of the consumers. So don't be putting up anti-Nintendo posters next time I'm off to buy a video game. If nobody bought anything they didn't need ever again, and we all dug holes and lived in the ground, the environment would be runied quicker than it's being ruined now, not to mention that millions of people would be out of jobs, not to mention the country would end up in recession from stoppage of money-flow.

I suppose one could argue that the tension between Josh and Beth is "touching." No, wait, they couldn't. If I want to hear about some kid's struggle with "just being friends with a girl he really 'loves'," I'd either listen to some EMO punk rock or read my journal from 8th grade. That stuff happens to everyone, trying to push it off as a unique or original problem would just be plain dumb. Oh wait.

This is the kind of book 8 year olds will read, and then think "I know everything! I'm going to go protest now!" The book made me roll my eyes way too much, and I could see through the ways it kept trying to be way more intelligent and inspiring than it actually was. The title and the excerpt on the back made me perk up, but when I found out the only messages "Larry" had were either anti-consumerism or High School relationship troubles, I found myself struggling to finish it. The book reminded me of a poster I saw once advertising a "protest" at a local mall called "buy nothing day" where people would walk around and buy nothing. Both were pointless.

BookBrowse.com - Davina
The plot of The Gospel According To Larry may have a few holes, but the ideas and characterization more than make up for it.
This would make a great book for teen discussion - in school and outside. Indeed, if I was in charge of school curriculum I would recommend it as a must read - and discuss - title. Having said that some teens will no doubt consider the book to be pointless and Larry to be a loser. These would be the kids who've already been so indoctrinated with the desire to wear/own the new new brand that it's difficult for them to see that there could be a middle ground - somewhere between Larry's ascetic minimalism and today's buy buy buy mentality.

For a non-fiction look at branding try 'Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers' by Alissa Quart (2003) and 'No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies' by Naomi Klein (1999). Both should be available at any reasonable bookstore or library.