Customer Reviews

Larry and the Meaning of Life

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really wanted to love this book because I adored the first two books about Larry, but I'm afraid this really went off in the absolute wrong direction for me. It's impossible to say too much without massive spoilers, so I apologize for being cryptic, but after the layers of meaning and relevance in the first two books, I found this plot to be superficial and in many ways just morally outrageous. I did still enjoy the writing style. I wish I could give half stars because I would give this 2 1/2 -- right in the middle, neutral, not good or bad. But I can't so I have to choose 2 stars or 3 stars, and I can't give it a rating that is more good than bad. I just wish the author had picked almost ANY other direction to go with in Larry's life, because by the end of this I don't like many of the characters anymore.

I actually read Vote for Larry first, using my usual method of arbitrarily pulling books off the shelves at the public library. That is how I stumbled upon the books by Janet Tashjian. I then bought all of the Larry books as Xmas gifts for my 15 year old niece, 13 year old godson and 13 year old daughter. Each got one and will trade after finishing. My 13 year old daughter has already finished The Gospel According to Larry and pronounced it one of her fave books. It does help to read them in order, to keep track of the characters that pop in and out. But, at the their ages, they figure it out in context. Enjoy. I wish there were more books like this for my teen daughter, most are about getting a boyfriend, keeping a boyfriend or dealing with the popular girls in school. That is not her preferred genre at all. Yes, she devoured the Twilight series but these books take them to another world as well.

Whatever I was expecting, Larry and the Meaning of Life was definetly not what I was expecting. I haven't read the other two books in the series, but that didn't seem to matter. There were still Larry's funny footnotes if I ever got lost (which wasn't a lot). Larry's voice is really funny. There weren't many serious parts in this book, instead I was laughing most of the time.

However, the story was just really unrealistic. I cannot see this happening to anybody. Ever. That was really the only downside to this book.

I think this was the best yet of the "Larry" installments by Janet Tashjian! For the entire book, "Larry" (Josh) and I were wondering what the heck was going on!!! I won't spoil the ending, but I definitely did not see it coming! It was a pleasant surprise!

I also appreciated how Mz. Tashjian toned down the pre-martial sex in this book as well.

My only gripe is the ending with Betagold. I understand that she felt remorse over what she did to Larry (Josh) after seeing how much of a good person he is, but her way of trying to cope with it is completely inappropriate.

All in all, though, a good read. I hope for a #4, but with the series' alleged non-existent sales, it is doubtful a sequel is forthcoming. Alas!

By the way, is that Janet playing herself in the audiobooks' introduction and ending? It's a shame the publisher pulled the plug on making this 3rd installment an audiobook-it would've been great!