The Gospel According to Larry Review

Title: The Gospel According to Larry

Author: Janet Tashjian

Release Date: 3rd June 2004

Publisher: Puffin Books

Josh Swensen is no average 17-year-old. His IQ is sky high, he owns only 75 possessions, he communicates with his dead mum at Bloomingdales’ make up counter, he’s completely besotted with his best friend Beth. And he is now got an anti-consumerist alter ego called Larry who is worshipped by millions of teenagers…

Conundrum #1 betagold is on his tail. How can he prevent her from exposing his identity?

Conundrum #2 How can he let Beth know how he really feels about her?

Conundrum #3 What drastic steps will he take when it all goes horribly wrong?

Josh Swensen, an American teenager, creates an online persona, Larry. What he doesn’t bet on is the hero-worship Larry generates and his new found celebrity status online. U2 even start a concert promoting his ideas. However, all this is fine until someone, calling herself betagold, decides to reveal who Larry is. From then on Josh’s life spirals out of control and he realises that by being Larry, he isolated those who loved Josh. The book is in the form of a manuscript which Josh gave to the author to publish.

This book is certainly interesting and made me think a lot in terms of consumerism. While I don’t want to sound negative, I felt the beginning of the book was an anti-consumerism rant from Larry’s character. While the reader still gets bits of information about Josh’s family life with his stepdad, Peter and potential stepmother Katherine (both his biological parents are deceased) and his love interest, Beth, it was hard to follow the plot with so much politics being thrown at the reader. However, I do agree with Larry’s theories (though I’m not sure I could only live with 75 possessions… what about the books?) and the book made me think about my own life in terms of the importance of possessions. Why are we so obsessed with material possessions when those in less developed countries barely have enough to eat?

In this sense, the book makes you reassess your own views. The message within the pages becomes more complex when Larry’s identity is revealed and Josh’s decision not to revel in his new celebrity status makes his character appeal to the reader even more. What happens next is quite strange and I don’t want to reveal too much but I found Josh’s actions to be melodramatic and slightly uncalled for. Then his philosophy changes from anti-consumerist to just general caring for each other on a small level. I also agree with this idea, that day to day positive actions can make the world a better place. I just felt that Josh gets a little bit confused over his politics and the book loses some of its potency because of this.

Janet Tashjian has done a series of Larry books, this being the first one I have read but they all have interesting titles, Vote for Larry and Larry and the Meaning of Life. There is also a website with regular posts from Larry http://www.thegospelaccordingtolarry.com/

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to approach their consumer driven life in a different way. The politics may be a little too enthusiastic at times but Larry does raise some relevant points to modern life and the manuscript format of the novel makes for interesting reading.

4/5 Analyse your life!

The Gates Review

Title: The Gates

(Samuel Johnson Versus The Devil: Round 1)

Author: John Connolly

Release Date: 1^st April 2010

Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton

Samuel Johnson has a number of problems. Samuel’s dad cares more about his car than his family, Samuel’s mother is lonely, and only Samuel’s dog, Boswell, truly understands him.

Oh, and as if things couldn’t get any worse, Samuel’s neighbours, led by the villainous Mrs Abernathy, are trying to open the gates of hell. It’s up to Samuel to stop them, except nobody will believe him, and time is running out…

Now the fate of humanity lies in the hands of one small boy, and even smaller dog, and a very unlucky demon named Nurd…

Everything is normal in the town where Samuel lives or at least until the Abernathys and their friends summon the devil. However, Samuel is well aware of the situation. Along with his friends, Tom and Maria, his faithful dog, Boswell, his Mum and a terrified scientist from CERN, Dr Planck, he is out to save the world. It takes Samuel’s Dad’s car, a demon called Nurd and a whole lot of laughs before they can defeat the demon known as Ba’al (posing as Samuel’s neighbour, Mrs Abernathy).

There is only one word for this book and that is… hilarious! The book is also really intelligently written and appeals to all ages. The Gates was first recommended to me by someone over twice my age and then my younger brother borrowed it and was also really impressed – I haven’t heard him giggle that much in ages!

Not only is it written in a conversational style, which makes it easy to read but the subject matter is also engaging and really interesting! There are little footnotes that add to the silliness of this book but Connolly deals with complex subject matter such as the Hadron Collider in an understandable way, although you do have to follow the details closely at one point. The characters are really well written and Samuel experiences the difficulties many young people deal with, such as his parent’s separation as well as some not so common difficulties, like flying skulls in his hallway.

John Connolly uses chapter headings to tell the reader what will happen in each chapter, for example, Chapter Two, ‘In Which We Encounter a Small Boy, His Dog, and Some People Who Are Up to No Good’. Each chapter deals with a new setting and storyline and is as exciting as the last, from bodies rising from the dead at the church to confused scientists trying to figure out how they had a hand in releasing the devil.

Overall, I cannot stress how much I think EVERYONE should read this book. It is literally un-put-down-able because it is so easy to read, so funny and the story is so effortlessly executed. My only criticism is that the ending leaves you on a slight cliff hanger, which means you have to scurry to the library/book shop to pick up the next one!

5/5 Read it!