The Gospel According to Larry: Difference between revisions

 

In the first book, Josh Swensen is a [[Teen Genius|gifted 17-year-old]] with a best friend, Beth, whom he secretly loves, and a stepfather in marketing. His self-proclaimed goal is to make the world a better place, and he hates the consumerist society of mainstream America. Josh Swensen is also Larry, a well-known anticonsumerist Internet guru who becomes more and more popular throughout the course of the book, and his fans even organize a fundraiser Woodstock-ish concert in his honour.

The second book, ''Vote for Larry'', is about Josh's {{spoiler|failed}} run for President of the United States after un-faking his death and re-emerging into the public spotlight; while the third book, ''Larry and the Meaning of Life'' has all of Josh's friends conspiring to cure him of his bout of depression with {{spoiler|the [[Batman Gambit]] of the century involving a terrorist plot, betagold pretending to need a kidney transplant from Josh (''which is convincingly faked''), and a group of gurus which justs happens to include the second love of his life, Janine.}} That's just the tip of the iceberg. Did I forget to mention that {{spoiler|THIS WAS ALL ORCHESTRATED BY A NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL??}}

 

* [[Cannot Spit It Out]]

* [[Did Not Get the Girl]] - one layer of the first book's ending. Beth rejects Josh as a lover because she thinks of him [[Like Brother and Sister|as a brother]] {{spoiler|which is promptly changed in the sequel}}, and not only that, ''ends up dating [[The Jock]] from the first act of the book again because he has supposedly reformed.'' Talk about a kick to the balls; no wonder the guy {{spoiler|faked his own suicide}}.

* [[False Start]]

* [[Footnote Fever]]

* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]] - an interesting variation: by the time ''Vote for Larry'' was ready for publication, the Democratic party hadn't announced their ticket for the 2004 election. So instead of going after John Kerry, Tashjian inserted a faceless Democrat and decided to attack the Party in general, and [[Bill Clinton]] in particular. Every other instance of a celebrity appearing in the books, however, is done in full with no apologies.

* [[Society Marches On]] / [[Technology Marches On]] - The plot of the first novel is centered around the idea that Josh's well written, enlightening sermons create a massive fanbase and start a pop-culture movement. The original book was published in 2003, making it contemporary with the rise in popularity of blogs and so forth. Despite this, no blogger ever reached anywhere near the success Josh did (who had an entire festival centered around him, which was compared to Woodstock and even had U2 in attendance, and became basically a living prophet in many character's eyes).

* [[The Mole]] - {{spoiler|Tim Hawthorne}} in ''Vote For Larry''.

* [[Victorious Childhood Friend]] - possibly Beth, depending on how you view ''Meaning'' 's ending.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Young Adult Literature]]