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3.22 AVERAGE
3.22 AVERAGE
In the third installment of Larry, also known as Josh, we find him back home in Concord, Mass., vegetating on the couch and hypnotized by TV. His campaign for President (Vote For Larry) is over, the love of his life has fled the relationship, and his mental malaise prompts him to postpone his freshman year at Princeton. He has always had a major project on the front burner—before he ran for President of the USA he spearheaded a national crusade against commercialism in The Gospel According to Larry—so his catatonic state has his Dad and best friend more than a little concerned. Here is where the plot begins. While wondering around Walden Pond, he has a chance encounter with Gus, a “guru” who offers a study group that helps the confused and disoriented find true “reality”. After Larry finds that the long lost girlfriend has traveled across the country to take Gus’s group, he signs on, too. Eighteen years old and already searching for reality—I can relate to that! I think it is a great example of something, but if I tell you, it might give away too much!! It has five letters, and two vowels.
The third Larry book. I didn’t like this one much at all. It was slightly suspenseful and curious as I was reading it, but the ending was kind of hokey and the whole story fell apart for me there.
What would you do if you lived near Walden Pond? Josh Swenson’s, aka Larry, favorite book is by Thoreau, and he just happens to live near the place it was written about. Having unsuccessfully run across the country to get back his girlfriend, Larry is home waiting for something to motivate him. He has graduated from High School and is waiting for the next semester of college to start and kind of at loose ends. Until he meets a guru named Gus and finds his former girlfriend studying with him. Larry signs up to see find the meaning of life. But the adventure is just beginning as there are land mines, odd coincidences and old nemesis that make the adventure a little too unbelievable.
Not as charming as the first. Thoreau's transcendentalism was muddied by an implausible plot.
Unfortunately this book was a far cry from the beginning of this series. I thought that the author made some really bad decisions and the twist made the whole book pointless. When she had a dog decapitated I knew it couldn't be real, and yet everyone was in on it and it went the whole story and there was NO GOOD REASON for it to be like that. The reason that was used to explain it wasn't good enough to mess with someone that bad. Since everyone was playing a part the entire book, none of the relationships mean anything. A very unfortunate book.
This was so horrible, I don't even know what to say about it.
I read this a year or two ago, but I still remember it fondly.. Well, I remember what I liked about it , but the exact synopsis is fuzzy to me , lol?
I LOVE LOVE LOVE 'sarcastic footnotes'. The Bartimeaus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud implemented this method of storytelling and added humor and nattering that really enhanced the experience of reading the book itself, as well as add to Bart's character. It was not the story without Bartimeaus's jibes and sarcastic sly remarks at the bottom of the page.
Janet Tashjian uses this form of writing, and it also won my favor and respect/laughs. I loved this book.
A coming-of-age in the sense that a teenager doesn't really know exactly who he is or what he should do. He misses his dead mother, but that doesn't stop the dry humor from rolling off the pages.
I recommend for young adults or early teens looking for a good, heartfelt teenager-hitting-a-speedbump-in-his-life story with humor to keep the pace going.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE 'sarcastic footnotes'. The Bartimeaus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud implemented this method of storytelling and added humor and nattering that really enhanced the experience of reading the book itself, as well as add to Bart's character. It was not the story without Bartimeaus's jibes and sarcastic sly remarks at the bottom of the page.
Janet Tashjian uses this form of writing, and it also won my favor and respect/laughs. I loved this book.
A coming-of-age in the sense that a teenager doesn't really know exactly who he is or what he should do. He misses his dead mother, but that doesn't stop the dry humor from rolling off the pages.
I recommend for young adults or early teens looking for a good, heartfelt teenager-hitting-a-speedbump-in-his-life story with humor to keep the pace going.
So not what I expected: this was more a HS than an MS book, and the question of "what is reality/what isn't" gets pretty complicated. Ultimately, though, I just didn't buy the book's premise -- it was just too filled with twists and 'cleverness'.
Plowed through books 2 & 3 in the Larry trilogy and though I enjoyed this one, it is the weakest in the cycle. The denouement felt false and I was unable to suspend my disbelief enough to enjoyed the end of the book.
Janet Tashjian’s The Gospel According to Larry is one of the top five books that I recommend to teens looking for something good to read. So naturally, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Larry and the Meaning of Life.
18 year old Josh Swenson has had an eventful few years. At 16, he started a website that made him a world-wide star, and at 17 he ran for President of the United States. It’s little wonder that at 18, Josh (who created his website under the pseudonym “Larry”), is suffering from depression and wondering where he fits in the world now. Looking for answers, Larry goes to a special place of inspiration: Walden Pond. At the pond he meets Gus, a spiritual guru, who leads classes for young people. Josh somewhat reluctantly joins Gus’s followers, hoping to find a way out of his funk.
From there, the plot is far too convoluted to summarize, but suffice to say that it involves paint by number sets, land mines and decapitated dogs (unrelated to the land mines). Part of the appeal of Larry’s stories has always been their quirkiness, but unfortunately, Tashjian seems to have wandered out past quirkiness and into simply odd. While neither The Gospel According to Larry or Vote for Larry would be labeled “slice of life” novels, Larry and the Meaning of Life strains credulity a bit too far. This one will disappoint fans of Larry and is unlikely to attract newcomers.
18 year old Josh Swenson has had an eventful few years. At 16, he started a website that made him a world-wide star, and at 17 he ran for President of the United States. It’s little wonder that at 18, Josh (who created his website under the pseudonym “Larry”), is suffering from depression and wondering where he fits in the world now. Looking for answers, Larry goes to a special place of inspiration: Walden Pond. At the pond he meets Gus, a spiritual guru, who leads classes for young people. Josh somewhat reluctantly joins Gus’s followers, hoping to find a way out of his funk.
From there, the plot is far too convoluted to summarize, but suffice to say that it involves paint by number sets, land mines and decapitated dogs (unrelated to the land mines). Part of the appeal of Larry’s stories has always been their quirkiness, but unfortunately, Tashjian seems to have wandered out past quirkiness and into simply odd. While neither The Gospel According to Larry or Vote for Larry would be labeled “slice of life” novels, Larry and the Meaning of Life strains credulity a bit too far. This one will disappoint fans of Larry and is unlikely to attract newcomers.