The Gospel According To Larry: Summary and book reviews of The Gospel According To Larry by Janet Tashjian, plus links to an excerpt from The Gospel According To Larry and a biography of Janet Tashjian.
The Gospel According To Larry
by
Janet Tashjian
Hardcover: Oct 2001,
227 pages.
Paperback: May 2003,
256 pages.
Josh Swensen is not your average 17-year-old. At the age of two, he was figuring out algebraic equations with colored magnetic numbers. He is a prodigy who only wants to make the world a better place. Josh’s wish comes true when his virtual alter ego, Larry, becomes a huge media sensation. Larry has his own Web site where he posts sermons on anti-consumerism and has a large following of adults and teens. Meanwhile, Larry’s identity is a mystery to everyone. While it seems as if the whole world is trying to figure out Larry’s true identity, Josh feels trapped inside his own creation. What will happen to the world, and to Larry, if he is exposed?
Book Reviews
Children's Literature - Norah Piehl
The plot sometimes walks just this side of absurdity, and some figures (like Josh's advertising executive stepfather) are conveniences rather than developed characters. However, Josh's story, and particularly Larry's sermons, are excellent starting points for discussion, and may even inspire teens on their own path to political activism.
Publishers Weekly
[This] funny, thoughtful novel takes on some sophisticated issues.... Tashjian not only gives readers a good primer on materialism (and Thoreau), she also makes them think about a different kind of activism. Ages 12-up.
School Library Journal - Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Gr 8 Up. Josh is bright, articulate, idealistic, and in love with Beth, the girl next door and his best friend since sixth grade. Afraid to declare himself-especially in light of Beth's flirtations with a socially connected but intellectually suspect football player-he pours his energy into a clever Web site, through which his alter ego, Larry, advocates introspection, tolerance, and anticonsumerism....A terrific read with a credible and lovable main character.
Booklist - Ilene Cooper
Starred Review. Gr. 7-10. Tashjian does something very fresh here, which will hit teens at a visceral level. She takes the natural idealism young people feel, personalizes it in the character of Josh/Larry, and shows that idealism transformed by unintended consequences. The book's frank discussion about topics paramount to kids--celebrity worship, consumerism, and the way multinational corporations shape our lives--is immediate, insightful, and made even more vivid because it's wrapped in the mystery of Larry.
Kirkus Reviews
Tashjian's inventive story is a thrilling read, fast-paced with much fast food for thought about our consumer-oriented pop culture. A parallel narrative about Beth, Josh's childhood friend and secret love, works nicely, too. The voice is clear, the ending satisfying. Teenagers will eat this one up.
VOYA - Lynn Evarts
This story will speak clearly to many teens looking to create their own place in the world—those who have not been able to make their mark as jocks or cheerleaders or even geeks in the rough world of high school cliques. Josh's rocket to anonymous fame is a fantasy for many teens today. Tashjian skillfully uses humor and provides one of the most honest voices in young adult literature since Steve York in Rob Thomas's Rats Saw God ...Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses. Broad general YA appeal; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12.
KLIATT - Paula Rohrlick
The framing device, in which the writer pretends that Josh gave her the text, is unnecessary, but aside from that this is an outstanding YA novel. Tashjian, the author of Tru Confessions and Multiple Choice, has penned a real winner here. —Exceptional book, recommended for junior and senior high school students.
One of the most celebrated writers of our time gives us his first cycle of short fiction: five brilliantly etched, interconnected stories in which music is a vivid and essential character.
In her most accomplished novel, Barbara Kingsolver takes us on an epic journey from the Mexico City of artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo to the America of Pearl Harbor, FDR, and J. Edgar Hoover. The Lacuna is a poignant story of a man pulled between two nations as they invent their...
The acclaimed author of Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude returns with a roar with this gorgeous, searing portrayal of Manhattanites wrapped in their own delusions, desires, and lies.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author— "an immensely gifted writer and a magical prose stylist" (Michiko Kakutani, New York Times)—offers his first major work of nonfiction, an autobiographical narrative as inventive, beautiful, and powerful as his acclaimed, award-winning fiction.
Like Robin Hood, Zorro is a story that almost everyone knows, but few have read. The original book by Johnston McCulley is out of print and ...
read more
I'm 13 years old and my teacher handed me this book and told me to read and do a report on it. I looked at the cover, saw the title (which made no ...
read more
I'm 13 years old and my teacher handed me this book and told me to read and do a report on it. I looked at the cover, saw the title (which made no ...
read more
The 2009 National Book Award Winners(Nov 19 2009) The winners of the 2009 National Book Awards have been announced at the National Book Foundation's 60th National Book Awards Ceremony and Benefit...
Full Story
Google Settlement Filed(Nov 13 2009) After two delays, attorneys for the AAP, Authors Guild and Google filed an amended settlement agreement today in an effort to end litigation brought by the...
Full Story
Become a member!
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends only the most interesting and well written books and provides you with everything you need to decide which are
right for you - so you can browse the best and ignore the rest.
One Month Free Trial
The Gospel According To Larry
Children's Literature - Norah Piehl
RSS feed
