- Hardcover: 398 pages
- Publisher: Wheeler Pub Inc; Lrg edition (March 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1568955375
- ISBN-13: 978-1568955377
- Product Dimensions: 23.5 x 17.1 x 3.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 771 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,522,626 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon.com
Larry Weller is a regular guy, or so Carol Shields has him think. When we first meet him in 1977 Winnipeg at age 26, he's 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, it's not too bad, either. (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 is 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 center of the maze to its exit. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
From Library Journal
Shields (winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for The Stone Diaries, LJ 5/15/96) narrated the abridged version of her novel (Audio Reviews, LJ 11/1/97), while here another woman reads Harry Weller's uneventful life. Alyssa Bresnahan gives a perceptive characterization of this 20th-century Everyman. Although the story describes Harry's everyday life in intimate detail, even to the number of fillings in his teeth and shoes in his closet, it is his work that is the heart of the book. Harry designs mazes for gardens; they are his passion as well as his profession. They are, in his words, "refuges from confusion, an orderly path for the persevering." Even Harry's life is consistent. As if in a maze, he follows sharp turns and false trails until he emerges triumphant in the center. It is then, in 1997, that Harry Weller?age 47?gives a party to celebrate his birthday, brilliantly described by Shields in a manner worthy of Virginia Woolf. A memorable experience. Recommended.?Jo Carr, Sarasota, FL
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A gem, emotionally and stylistically.,
By
This review is from: Larry's Party (Paperback)
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.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I Loved This Book!,
This review is from: Larry's Party (Paperback)
I thought this was one of the more refreshing books I've read in a while, due mainly to the fact that Larry is nothing special. I get so tired of reading novels where the protagonist is a billionaire or a stunningly handsome James Bond-type character. I really enjoyed the mundane descriptions of Larry growing up in Winnipeg, and how the events in his life just sort of happened to him. I found the ordinary characters to be much more believable and much more interesting than the usual hyped-up characters who populate modern fiction. The layout of the book actually had me wondering whether these chapters were originally written as short stories; I too found the repetition of background material in each chapter to be somewhat tedious. As a plot device it didn't really wash. Overall, though, this is another Bargain Bin treasure that I am going to recommend to others. I read "Stone Diaries" and must say that I liked this one better. Hoorah for the common man!
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful,
By sainte-carmen (London) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Larry's Party (Paperback)
I've read most of Shields' books and taught a few, but this is my absolute favourite. It's a charming yet completely believable tale of one man's life. Read it if you need to have your faith restored in humanity.
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