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Josh Swensen is not your average 17-year-old. At the age of two, he was figuring out algebraic equations with colored magnetic numbers. He is a prodigy who only wants to 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. 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?
Josh Swensen is not your average 17-year-old. At the age of two, he was figuring out algebraic equations with colored magnetic numbers. He is a prodigy who only wants to 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. 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?
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
Due to publisher restrictions the library cannot purchase additional copies of this title, and we apologize if there is a long waiting list. Be sure to check for other copies, because there may be other editions available.
“I haven’t enjoyed a rant this much since Thoreau,” Beth said. “We need people stirring up the way we think about things.”
My best friend, Beth, was trying to talk me into forming a Larry study group with her. His Web site—www.thegospelaccordingtolarry.com—received hundreds of hits a day, mostly from teens and college students. No one knew Larry’s identity, and that conjecture alone was the source of several companion Web sites. Many kids at school were fans, but Beth was rabid.
“Josh, I know neither one of us has ever joined a club in our life,” she said. “But that’s precisely why we should.”
I tried to listen to the details of her story, I really did, but there is something about Beth’s mouth that gets in the way of paying attention to its contents. She often wore a certain brown lipstick and outlined the edges of her lips with this pencil she carried in her bag. Every time she talked, it was like this pale chocolate snowcone staring up at me, waiting to be eaten. I’ve been in love with her since sixth grade, but she didn’t have a clue.
“I’ll help you with the club,” I said. “But just so the two of us can bag all the meetings and laugh at the other people who show up.”
She wasn’t amused. “This isn’t a joke. Someone is finally talking about the things I’ve been saying all along, and I think it’s important to help spread the word. Are you in or are you out?”
“Of course I’m in. I can’t let you do this on your own. Next thing I know you’ll be running for prom queen or something.”
She punched me in the arm, her usual form of affection. “Hey, why don’t you help me at the store this afternoon? We’re having a run on shovels.”
Beth’s father’s hardware store had been our work/tree house/summer camp since grammar school. Sorting the nuts and bolts, counting the different lightbulbs, shoveling the woodchips into wheelbarrows had never seemed like a job to either of us. The small store prided itself on carrying everything a homeowner could need, but for a loner like me it was a nonthreatening way to be a part of the community without too much social pressure. I told Beth I’d meet her there at four.
For a brief moment I pretended we were a couple, not snowbound outside Boston, but romping through the Caribbean surf—tan and in love. My fantasy shattered, however, when she waved goodbye and headed across the cafeteria to Todd Terrific—a new jock she was obsessed with. Can someone please explain to me how this preoccupation with dopey athletes happens even to headstrong young women who work in hardware stores and score 1350s on their SATs? Beth, what are you doing to me? Life was cruel and unfair—what did this Larry guy have to say about that?
The rest of school went by like the movie Groundhog Day, where Bill Murray wakes up and every day is the same, down to the last boring details. Even when something new did happen—fire drill, substitute teacher—it was still just a giant yawn in the storyline. To keep myself amused during study hall, I invented a new alphabet based on the sense of smell.
At home that night, I booted up my laptop and logged on. I checked my e-mail, then the small portfolio of stocks my mother left me when she died. I made one last online stop: to Larry. I wondered if Beth was doing the same thing at the same time—an unrequited cyberdate.
The Larry logo filled the screen—a peace sign...
About the Author-
Janet Tashjian also wrote True Confessions and Multiple Choice.
Reviews-
Seventeen-year-old Joshua Swenson espouses an anti-consumerism, anti-materialism message through the mouthpiece of "Larry" on the Internet. His sermons include researched statistics and influences from Thoreau. When his ideas spawn a national movement and Josh is subsequently discovered, his carefully constructed world falls apart as friends and family try to reconcile the Josh they know with his new personality as Larry. Josh too must confront the difference between his neat philosophies and his tendency to bottle up the most important things he has to say. Jesse Eisenberg gives an excellent performance as a sincere, reflective teenager. His fast reading pace and clipped sentence endings detract only slightly from the narration. J.M.S. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
Starred review from June 2, 2003
A highly intelligent 17-year-old takes on a pseudonym and starts a Web site that rants against consumer culture. As his popularity grows and his identity becomes impossible to hide, he is forced to reevaluate his medium for instigating change. "A funny, thoughtful novel that takes on some sophisticated issues," wrote PW. Ages 12-up.
May 1, 2005 Gr 7-11 -In this novel by Janet Tashjian (Holt, 2001), high school senior Josh Swenson is afraid to tell Beth, his best friend since sixth grade, that he's in love with her. Josh creates an anonymous Web site and an Internet persona named Larry to air his personal philosophy and dispense advice to the girl he loves. Larry is fast becoming a media sensation contrary to all the things Josh personifies. Framed by an artful disclaimer read by the author concerning how and why Josh's tale is being told for the first time, the story itself is read by Jesse Eisenberg who captures Josh's frenetic and sometimes manic style. A very nice pacing allows the Biblical quotes at section intervals to be set off clearly. The aural cues of a manual typewriter as Josh writes as Larry or the camera whir as he takes photos of his (and Larry's) limited possessions also help keep the story's different sections as clear in a listener's mind as they are on the printed page. Even the footnotes Josh inserts wryly come through well as Eisenberg uses a sotto voce delivery. As an auditory adaptation of a very visual book, this succeeds extremely well. The story's Internet-based plot combined with a fair amount of thought-provoking issues such as consumerism, tolerance, friendship, and love, will appeal to middle and high school students.-Jane P. Fenn, Corning-Painted Post West High School, NY
Copyright 2005 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
December 3, 2001 Written as an alleged account that a teen prophet handed to the author to publish, Tashjian's (Tru Confessions) funny, thoughtful novel takes on some sophisticated issues. Highly intelligent 17-year-old Josh Swensen wants to save the world—and hopefully seduce Beth, the best friend for whom he pines. Josh's self-deprecating, humorous tone carries readers swiftly along ("Can someone please explain to me how this preoccupation with dopey athletes happens even to headstrong young women who... score 750s on their SATs?" he says when Beth gravitates to "Todd Terrific, a new jock she was obsessed with"). As the anonymous Larry, the hero starts a Web site ( www.thegospelaccordingtolarry.com ) on which he rants against consumer culture and its obsession with celebrities. But as Larry's popularity grows, Josh's identity becomes impossible to hide, forcing him to reevaluate his medium for instigating change. The popularity of his site—which contains his "sermons," photos of some of his 75 possessions and parodies of ad campaigns—may not be entirely convincing to some teens, but his compelling character and other clever flourishes, like Larryfest, the advertising-free rock festival put together by U2's Bono, or the make-up counter at Bloomingdale's, where Josh goes to connect with the spirit of his dead mother, keep the novel clipping along. Tashjian not only gives readers a good primer on materialism (and Thoreau), she also makes them think about a different kind of activism. Ages 12-up.
September 1, 2004 These two idiosyncratic cyber-fables recount the adventures of an online oracle who is arrogant, idealistic, egocentric, awkward, and endearing. In other words, a teenager. Eisenberg reads at a speed that will leave even the most seasoned listener breathless, but the frenetic pace is a perfect match for the frenetic main character. What might have been problematic -- the constant use of footnotes to provide a sarcastic self-reflexive running commentary -- is handled with aplomb: Eisenberg simply drops the register of his narrative voice into an almost conspiratorial tone. [Review covers these audiobook titles: The Gospel According to Larry and Vote for Larry.]
(Copyright 2004 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
Kirkus Reviews, Starred
"The voice is clear, the ending satisfying. The readers will eat this one up."
School Library Journal, Starred
"A terrific read with a credible and lovable main character."
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Seventeen-year-old Joshua Swenson espouses an anti-consumerism, anti-materialism message through the mouthpiece of "Larry" on the Internet. His sermons include researched statistics and influences from Thoreau. When his ideas spawn a national movement and Josh is subsequently discovered, his carefully constructed world falls apart as friends and family try to reconcile the Josh they know with his new personality as Larry. Josh too must confront the difference between his neat philosophies and his tendency to bottle up the most important things he has to say. Jesse Eisenberg gives an excellent performance as a sincere, reflective teenager. His fast reading pace and clipped sentence endings detract only slightly from the narration. J.M.S. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
