The Gospel According to Larry

Reader response to The Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashjian

Back cover reads:

"Josh Swensen is not your average seventeen-year-old. At the age of two, he was figuring out algebraic equations with colored magnetic numbers. He is a prodigy who has always enjoyed learning. And he's nly wanted one thing his entire life--to contribute and make the world a better place.

Josh's wish comes true when his virtual alter ego, Larry, becomes a huge media sensation. Larry has his own Web site, where he posts sermons on anti consumerism and has a large following of adults and teens. Meanwhile, Larry's identity is a mystery to everyone, including Josh's best friend, Beth, whom he has been in love with for years.

While it seems as if the whole world is trying to figure out Larry's true identity, Josh feels trapped inside his own creation. What will happen to the world, and to Larry, if he is exposed?"

Response:

It was pretty good until Josh was "outed" and people found out that he was Larry. It was a good read. Tashjian's writing is quick and witty. I love it. Josh also has these footnotes all over the place that are hilarious. I don't know, though. After I was through half of it, I really didn't feel compelled to read it anymore. Eh. Guys might like this book. I would recommend it for anticonsumer, anticonformity, stick-it-to-the-man types. heh. Ages 14 and up I think.

Quotes:

"If I sat in this pit for the rest of my life, I could nver get enough of the damp earth smell. It was the mixture of life and death that attracted me" (56).

"My mother always understood how curious my mind could get and put in many hours trying to keep it busy . (footnote 22): Like drawing bluepritns of the local bank so I could pretend to rob it, that kind of thing" (70).

"My insomnia became so frenzied, however, that I ended up tossing a couple of glass stones into my mouth instead of M&M's, almost leading to a full-blown dental crisis" (94-5).

(Josh's stepfather) "You don't have enough life experience. You don't know how the world works yet." (this is the #1 thing to NOT say to teenagers)

(Josh) "Adults always say that to keep kids quiet. You don't have any answers; you're all just muddling through, like the rest of us" (154).

"I felt like a guppy hiding under a piece of coral in an aquarium full of piranhas" (162).

"My brain simmered in my head like overcooked squash" (169).

"From Mother Teresa. 'We can do no great things, only small things with great love'" (226). How fitting that this quote should be in this book at this time in my life.