Description

Report copyright infringement

by
Carol Shields (Author)

The
San Diego Tribune called
The Stone Diaries a “universal study of what makes women tick.” With
Larry’s Party
Carol Shields has done the same for men. Larry Weller, born in 1950, is an ordinary guy made extraordinary by his creator’s perception, irony, and tenderness.
Larry’s Party gives us, as it were, a CAT scan of his life, in episodes between 1977 and 1997, that seamlessly flash backward and forward. We follow this young floral designer through two marriages and divorces, and his interactions with his parents, friends, and a son. Throughout, we witness his deepening passion for garden mazes–so like life, with their teasing treachery and promise of reward. Among all the paradoxes and accidents of his existence, Larry moves through the spontaneity of the seventies, the blind enchantment of the eighties, and the lean, mean nineties, completing at last his quiet, stubborn search for self. Larry’s odyssey mirrors the male condition at the end of our century with targeted wit, unerring poignancy, and faultless wisdom.

Author Biography

Carol Shields (1935-2003) is the author of
The Stone Diaries, which won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Canada’s Governor General’s Award. Her other novels and short-story collections include
The Republic of Love, Happenstance, Swann, The Orange Fish, Various Miracles, The Box Garden, and Small Ceremonies (all available from Penguin).

Number of Pages: 352Dimensions: 0.83 x 7.6 x 5.38 INPublication Date: September 01, 1998Award: Guardian First Book Award (1997)Award: Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction (1998)Accelerated Reader:Quiz Name: Larry’s PartyInterest Level: Upper Grades, 9-12Reading Level: 7Point Value: 17