Larry Weller, born in Winnipeg in 1950, is like a lot of people. He's never really liked his first name; "its Larryness has always seemed an imprisonment and a sly wink toward its most conspicuous rhyme: ordinary... He was just one more citizen of the Larry nation, those barbecuers, those volunteer firemen, those wearers of muscle shirts" But Larry Weller is an ordinary guy made extraordinary by his creator's perception, irony and tenderness. Carol Shields gives us a resonant and unforgettable portrait of a man - a sensuously detailed CAT scan of his life.
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Larry's Party won Carol Shields the Orange Prize for Fiction in 1998. Shields is the second Canadian to win this prestigious award since its inception in 1996.
I've always kinda-sorta wondered what it's like to be a white male. Now, thanks to Larry's Party, I have a pretty good idea.
Larry's Party puts me in mind of movies like Forrest Gump and Fargo. The Fargo thing might be because we meet the main character (who, I imagine, looks like William H.Macy) in an icebox of a city. The Forrest Gump feel because Larry seems to be drifting through life and finding success despite not really searching for it. Each chapter reads like a short story or fictional essay about a specific area of Larry's life.
The story opens with a 26-year-old Larry walking down a street in Winnipeg, on his way to meet his girlfriend, Dorrie. This is the moment Larry identifies as the start of his adult life. It's also the moment that he realizes he is in love with Dorrie. Women play a huge role in Larry's life. In his early thirties, Larry comes to the realization that all of the important conversations in his life have been with women.
The last chapter of the book, "Larry's Party", serves up a great "ah ha" moment. Larry's feelings become shockingly clear. Despite the romantic ending, there were stretches of the last chapter that I did not enjoy. The dinner party conversation was dizzying. It was a relief to return to the first-person narration, and the letters and emails.
Despite some disappointing dinner party conversation, Larry's Party goes in my five pile. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Larry Weller's life and would have enjoyed another 100 pages. I highly recommend Larry's Party. The recap of pertinent information in each chapter make it a great book for commuters.
5
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