Customer Reviews

Larry's Party

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Like so many of us, Larry Weller finds himself, on occasion, lost. Is that why he is drawn to the arcane profession of maze-making? Or is his fascination with mazes a reflection of his deepening intellect and development as a man?

In the course of fifteen carefully observed chapters, Carol Shields examines the maze-like Life of Larry. Each chapter is like a short film in which Shields refocuses her lens on a specific aspect of Larry's life: "Larry's Words," "Larry's Love," "Larry's Kid," etc. The end result is an in-depth portrait of a multi-dimensional guy, a compendium of details that elevates the seemingly ordinary Larry into someone utterly unique. She follows him through college (actually a trade school for florists), through the courtship of his first wife, through disillusionments and deaths, and finally to the party of the title, in which many of his life's loose ends are resolved.

This is deep, smart, resonant writing, a subtly cajoling book that satisfies and delights.

In Carol Shield's novel, Larry's Party, each chapter is divided into chronological periods in the main character, Larry's life. What Shields shares with the readers in this book are not the main events in Larry's life, but instead are sketches of numerous (seemingly insignificant) occurences that shape the character's life. From the outside, Larry appears to lead a normal, mundane life. Once the reader is allowed into Larry's private thoughts, however, the ordinary dilemmas and difficulties this man faces form into an immensely complex character. "And he's tired- tired of his name, tired of being a man, tired of the ghostly self he's chained to and compelled to drag around." Shields writes each sentence in almost a poetic manner. "He would fall alseep, finally, to the rhythm of those strange voices: Stu and Dot Weller, his silent poetic parents, coming awake in the soundwaves of their own muffled words, made gracefully by what they chose to say in the long darkness." Shields chooses extraordinary words and phrases to best portray the deep and sometimes hidden meanings. The wording and language Shields uses throughout the novel grow increasingly brash and crude. She writes in a pattern that describes every character in a journalistic way each time they are mentioned. "Dorrie, his first wife... Larry, from Winnipeg." This way of labeling becomes redundant and unnecessary. Shields tends to write each of the milestones of Larry's life in one brief sentence, while she goes into great detail and depth with the daily, routine events. It would be easy to assume that such deep analyzing of one certain character would be dull and without a driven plot, but Larry's Party draws in and captivates the reader. The characters do not grow tiresome because the further one gets into the novel, the more the characters reach out and become more relatable to the reader.

Carol Shields has a way of writing about the ordinary that elevates it to the sublime. We follow Larry, an ordinary guy, through his life through jumps in time of several years at a leap. Through the chapters, we follow him through a callow youth, through a first marriage and parenthood, divorce, his parents and sister's relationships with him and each other, remarriage and re-divorce, and most central to the book, his mundane job and rise to stellar status in his field of maze designer, of all things. But of course the maze is a metaphor for the complexities of life, trying to find ones way in the world. The dinner party at the end is clearly meant to represent the 'goal,' the center of the maze, but it's left to the readers to decide if Larry is likely to find his way out again.
A lovely tour de force.

What I didn't get immediately, but then dawned on me Eureka-fashion at three o'clock in the morning, was that this book is structured like a maze. Yes, think about it - it keeps looping back and more is revealed about one thread of story each time. If you took the trouble of tracing the paths of the maze diagrams in the book, you would see that.

Now why didn't I see that?

The writing is very good prose, and the descriptions often very rich and sensual - especially of the Harris tweed jacket (I own one) which I read three times, before reading the rest of the book. However, the tale lacks an emotional centre ... its like a well-written story about ... what? Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of "about what?"/slice of life stories which sizzle - but this just wasn't one of them. I felt exactly like ... completing a maze and finding an ugly stone fountain at the end. Exactly. Unfortunately.

I realy enjoyed this book, and am glad a took a chance on something that's not my normal preference.
The book spans 20 years of Larry's life, culminating in his party. After a few chapters you begin to see how many little experiences and conversations shape your life. He passes through loves, jobs, homes and conflicets just like anybody else. But by uncovering his patterns, you see yourself and your own patterns.
Read this book - not to knock your socks off, but to get a better understanding of how every decision you make in every day of your life can be one of many to alter your future.

Larry, the eponymous protagonist, is a late 20th century man who drifts through relationships as he drifts through his work. He, like his parents, seems to have life happen to him rather than helping it along. The results are hilarious and sad alternately. Each chapter is a short story in itself and the last chapter, "Larry's Party", is simply the best depiction of a dinner party and the table talk shows Ms Shields ear for conversation and is brilliant. I read 75-100 books per year and this is only the second one in my life where I had to write the author. There is a correlation in this book to Richard Ford's Independence Day and The Sportswriter but not as dark

This book came highly recommended. I heard not one discouraging word, so what a letdown to read a boring story about a boring ordinary guy with a boring job. I read a lot, so I knew better than to judge a book from the first few chapters. I kept waiting for the yeast that would add life to this bland dough, but in vain. Then I realized what was happening. Revered, Canadian, Pulitzer Prize winning author writes another book and nobody wants to offend. The newspaper and magazine reviews speak volumes with their verbal gymnastics; variations of the old food reviewers "succulent".Then follows a synopsis of the story; an effort to fill space. The writing style was engaging enough to keep me reading, waiting for the payoff, but it doesn't climax so much as drift off to sleep. Disappointing.

I didn't care for Larry or the author's writing style. I was suprised at how highly the book came recommended.

Not as good as the Stone Diaries, but a pleasant enough story. I was intrigued by the information about mazes, but found the continual presenting of previously covered material (as if it were needed as background info) jarring.

A decent book, which loosely suggests a maze-like labyrinthine feel during the story evolution; but this is more implied than actively structured, unlike the way Emily Bronte consciously used structure in Wuthering Heights.

Just as when men try to write about female characters, there are some shallow and stereotypical touches, especially regarding Larry's sexuality. His instantly responsive penis is the stuff of fantasy, as many men experience erection loss the first time or two with a new woman, and often during the very first time having sex.

While he shows a number of stereotypical reactions to the onset of middle age and the theatrical trauma of hitting forty, there is no recognition of the fact that a man with Larry's quasi-morbidity would be experiencing levels of erectile dysfunction from his late twenties onwards.

As with The Stone Diaries, Carol tends to write epics about people who simply do not lead epic lives, even in their own heads, and Larry's Party is such a novel.

Despite the inherent flaws and the tendency towards over-writing, I still consider it worth a read.