Name: Larry’s Party
Rating: 3.25 (4 reviews)
ISBN: 9780007406814

Carol Shields

The Orange Prize-winning novel of Larry Weller, a man who discovers the passion of his life in the ordered riotousness of Hampton Court’s Maze.

Larry’s Party

The Stone Diaries marked a new phase in a literary career already ablaze with achievement. As well as the many international awards it received, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Governor General's Award, the book also met with universal critical acclaim and topped bestseller lists around the world. "Carol Shields," raved Maclean's, "has crafted a small miracle of a novel." "The Stone Diaries," said the New York Times Book Review, "reminds us again why literature matters." The San Diego Tribune called The Stone Diaries "a universal study of what makes women tick." Now, in Larry's Party, Carol Shields does the same for men. Larry Weller, born in 1950, is an ordinary guy made extraordinary by his creator's perception, irony and tenderness. Larry's Party gives us, as it were, a CAT scan of his life, in episodes between 1977 and 1997 that flash backward and forward seamlessly. As Larry journeys toward the new millennium, adapting to society's changing expectations of men, Shields' elegant prose transforms the trivial into the momentous. We follow this young floral designer through two marriages and divorces, his interactions with parents, friends and a son. And throughout, we witness his deepening passion for garden mazes -- so like life, with their teasing treachery and promise of reward. Among all the paradoxes and accidents of his existence, Larry moves through the spontaneity of the seventies, the blind enchantment of the eighties and the lean, mean nineties, completing at last his quiet, stubborn search for self. Larry's odyssey mirrors the male condition at the end of our century with targeted wit, unerring poignancy and faultless wisdom.

Larry's Party

Edwin Lang

The book was quite good: the characterizations were realistic and the story interesting. I liked Larry. It is odd though that throughout the story I was not sure if Carol Shields did. In Come Thou Tortoise and The Painted Girls I felt that the authors loved their creations, and so did I. it’s odd because all three authors are Canadian, and Canadians are like Golden Retrievers in their love for other people (relatively speaking). I wondered if at some level Carol Shields thought Larry unworthy, and in spite of his material success, that un-intellectual-Larry would never measure up. It dawned on me that this might be so, and this plagued me throughout the reading, and I kept wondering where the author was taking us. I suppose it was how she had begun the story with a chapter that might as well been called Larry, The Petty Thief. And there were repetitions, making me feel that each chapter was an independent short story, or a part of a sequence of episodes in a continuing sequel at the start of or during which the readers had to be reminded what happened last week. And sometimes I felt overwhelmed by words: This is funny because a few back I finished The Golden Notebook, a book that swamps one in a deluge of words, and had not fatigued. I did like how Carol Shields compartmentalized Larry’s life with each chapter begun with an illustration of a maze with each maze corresponding to the theme of the chapter. 2 I also liked how the book was written partially in the 3rd person with the author explaining this or that and quite frequently – I suppose still in the 3rd person – but in Larry’s mind, and in his secret self. Overall Larry seemed a simple and decent man. Not especially ambitious – and I was reminded of Steinbeck’s The Winter of Our Discontent – but with success surprising constantly nipping at his heels and against all initial seeming odds. Not especially handsome – but likable enough and lovable enough by people around him. Not especially good – and certainly never bad, and paradoxically never grey, borderline or boring: never cool, but in an odd way, never square. Edwin

Larry Weller, born in 1950, is an ordinary guy made extraordinary by his creator's perception, irony and tenderness. Carol Shields gives us, as it were, a CAT scan of his life, in episodes between 1977 and 1997 that flash back and forward seamlessly. As Larry journeys toward the millennium, adapting to society's changing expectations of men, Shields' elegant prose makes the trivial into the momentous. Among all the paradoxes and accidents of his existence, Larry moves through the spontaneity of the seventies, the blind enchantment of the eighties and the lean, mean nineties, completing at last his quiet, stubborn search of self. Larry's odyssey mirrors the male condition at the end of our century with targeted wit, unerring poignancy and faultless wisdom.

Becca W

Melody Izard

Deborah Meades

A detailed study of the ordinary life of Larry Weller between 1977 and 1997 follows the floral designer as he deals with the rapidly changing world and two marriages and two divorces along the way. Reprint.

Larry’s Party

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