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Larry's Party
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Larry Weller is a regular guy, or so Carol Shields has him think. The scene of our first sight of Larry is Winnipeg in 1977, and the 26 year old is pondering the pluses of Harris tweed, still living at home and realizing he's in love with his girlfriend, Dorrie, a flinty car saleswoman. Larry is proud of his job at Flowerfolks, even though he fell into floral design by accident, and if his relationship with his parents isn't perfect, neither is it that bad. (Stu and Flo Weller may have less page-time in Larry's Party, but they are hugely memorable. He is a master upholsterer, happiest when working, she a woman ruined by nervous guilt having inadvertently killed off her mother-in-law with some improperly preserved green beans.)
Carol Shields has said that she had "always been struck by the fact that in most novels people aren't working." Though her hero climbs the floral managerial trellis for 17 years and finds more rhapsody in work than marriage, Larry and Dorrie's honeymoon in England points him toward what will be his true vocation--mazes. These living constructs turn him into a thinker, a man of imagination, and the author's descriptions are quietly spectacular as well as effortlessly sweet. Larry wonders at their "teasing elegance and circularity ... a snail, a scribble, a doodle on the earth's skin with no other directed purpose but to wind its sinuous way around itself." Just as Larry changes with the times--each elliptical chapter ages him by one or two years--so does his art. In 1990, he designs a maze in which you can't really lose yourself. In 1997, the McCord Maze "is intended to mirror the descent into unconscious sleep, followed by a slow awakening." Larry, too, has a slow awakening, taking several false turns before reaching midlife. As the novel closes, with a bravura dinner party scene, he may finally be at ease in the world. But his creator knows that he is only halfway there, and still has to negotiate his way from the centre of the maze to its exit.
Review
'A brilliant fictional reflection on what it may be like to be a man in the late 20th-century.' Penelope Lively, Independent 'Altogether a cause for celebration.' Anita Brookner, Spectator 'There is a moving sensation that somehow leaves one grappling for the single word to describe it. Poignant? Touching? Oh you know, the real thing.' Harpers and Queen 'No more richly satisfying novel, to my knowledge, has been published this year!Shields demonstrates once again her extreme mastery of emotional geometry.' Sunday Telegraph 'This is, like all of Shields's work, filled with warmth and understanding.' The Times 'Exhilarating.' Sunday Times
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The structure of this book is so clever - reflecting its theme of Larry's obsession with mazes. The reader is led through the maze of Larry's life; surging forward along favourable paths and backtracking out of deadends. I was aware of a puzzle to be solved throughout the book; and at the end had the feeling of burstign through the exit of the maze - the enigma solved. (Or is it the centre of the maze with the path back still to be negotiated?)
Larry's second wife, Beth, says life is a series of chapters and this is how Larry's life is portrayed. Each chapter exploring a facet such as his relationships with wives, parents, sibling, son, friends and colleagues; his health, his penis, his clothing. Perhaps intimating at a common trait in men - the ability to compartmentalise their lives. The repetition of details throughout the book may reflect this compartmentalising with each chapter written as a free standing story. Or as time has past between each chapter the repetition of detail may be used to reinforce the feeling of time passing.
It is inevitable that Larry will part from Beth because she does what men hate most - she asks Larry to discuss his thoughts and emotions. Larry's response is always "I'll have to think about that".
The style of writing is wonderfully descriptive:-
"he senses that his life is quietly clearing its throat, getting ready, at last, to speak"
"she went quiet; the bones of her face froze sharp as stone, then collapsed into a tearful rubble".
A thought provoking book and an un-put-downable read.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am searching amazon in order to purchase Larry's Party -- again. I read this book over seven years ago, and no matter where I have gone, esp within England, memories of this book and of Larry's life come back to me. I want to reread this novel to keep it fresh. With the help of this novel, my ability to sucessfully manage a maze sped up considerably -- and Larry has always been there too. He is an inspiring character and a great representative of real life. Not many books have stuck in my mind like Larry's Party. Carol Shields is a brilliant writer and I have enjoyed all of her books.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Larry's Party by Carol Shields won the 1997 Orange Prize for Fiction. Does it deserve it? Well maybe I'll leave that one alone. Is it a great book? - I don't know, but it certainly is a good read.
The symbolism running through the book, down to even the pictures on the front pages of each chapter of the paperback edition I read, is of mazes. The Larry of the title sees his first maze during his English honeymoon on a visit to Hampton Court. He is transformed from small town florist with the "little" wife who collects 50cents off coupons ( I thought if was only Americans who collected those damned pieces of paper!) to a maze designer with intellectual, third wave feminist, second wife.
The book takes the reader on a series of time stops throughout Larry's life, beginning in 1977 through to the party of the title in 1997. The reader feels like a time traveller, putting down at several places and times and catching up on Larry, his life and surroundings. You see all the dead ends and wrong turns that make up the maze of Larry's (and probably everyone else's) life - indeed some parts ring so close to reality, for example the chapter on Larry's Living Tissues to this fellow mid 40s bod!
Shields captures the different eras very well - although sometimes maddenly, she reintroduces people, circumstances, facts at each time stop. How many times do you need to be told he's the son of Stu and Dorothy Weller, brother to Midge etc!. But she does subtly reflect the era of each time snippet, for example the way she describes Dorrrie, Larry's first wife - Dorrie knows how to stretch money (those coupons again!) to Dorrie knows how to manage money; Dorrie has a knack for sales; Dorrie is in car sales to Dorrie is the VP of a large and expanding sportswear manufacturer, thinking of going international.
Yes, a good read, not in my top ten category, but a good portrayal of a man's life through the last two decades.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
some false notes - not her best
I have read and very much enjoyed other novels of Carol Shields, notably the Republic of Love, the Stone Diaries and Unless. Read more
Published 9 months ago by William Jordan
Beautifully-written but condescending story of a "man"
This is a beautifully-written novel. The line "Larry loves to see a woman with raindrops in her hair" sold me when I glanced through it. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Paul Woodfine
Step into the maze of Larry's life and you will finish the book his...
I couldn't stop reading this book, it was a treat. The book is intimate. The reader is invited into every part of Larry's life. You see his strengths, his weakness. Read more
Published on 7 April 2010 by Ruth
Good book
This book gives an insight into Larry's life labyrinth. The story is very well-written and kept me engaged; I found it hard to put the book down. Read more
Published on 18 Mar 2010 by Dona Rendell
A quiet gem
This is in similar vein to other books by this great writer, where there isn't much action but the novel just grips you utterly. Read more
Published on 28 April 2009 by H. Munshi
Metaphor for Meditation
It's a metaphor for the meditative process -
Wonderful book, ending, beginning, middle, all good... Read more
Wonderful book, ending, beginning, middle, all good... Read more
Published on 31 Jan 2009 by 2Passports1Life
Ambiguous...
Me and/or the book, take your pick. This is the first book I've read of the authors and I've read it in two days - not because I was absorbed but because I wanted to get through... Read more
Published on 18 April 2001
A good man is hard to find
Oh Larry, if only you existed in real life. Carol Shields gives us a tender portrait of a real guy, just trying to do right by himself and his life. Read more
Published on 20 Aug 2000
What starts out as humdrum becomes totally absorbing
I give this 4 stars only because I belive only the best book I've ever read should get five: I don't know what that is yet. This caught me by surpise. Read more
Published on 19 Aug 2000
Take a step back from how you usually read
"Larry's Party" is a very clever book; Carol Shields a very clever author.Plot aside, the entire arrangement and structure of the novel demands that the reader abandons... Read more
Published on 4 July 2000
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