Larry’s Party (1998)
Who wrote it?
Carol Ann Shields (nee Warner) (1935-2003; active 1972-2002), born Illinois, US, but later becoming a Canadian citizen by marriage to Donald Hugh Shields. She studied at Hanover College in Indiana, and then (following a year abroad at the University of Exeter in England) did postgrad work at the University of Ottawa. In the early part of her career, she worked initially as an editorial assistant and then a lecturer at first the University of Ottawa and then the University of British Columbia while working on her early novels.
Her first novel was Small Ceremonies (1976), with many others following before the release of possibly her most well-known work The Stone Diaries in 1993. The latter won the Pulitzer Prize and the Governor General's Award as well as being nominated for the 1993 Booker (losing to Roddy Doyle's Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha). Her final novel Unless (2002) was also Booker-nominated, in the year that Life of Pi was victorious. Author of ten novels in total, she also published numerous collections of poetry and short stories, as well as plays including 1990's Departures & Arrivals, and a biography of Jane Austen in 2001.
She died in Victoria in 2003 following a battle with breast cancer. In 2020, the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction was set up in her name to honour writing by Canadian and American women.
What's it about?
Larry's Party covers just over twenty years in the life of Laurence "Larry" Weller, an initially "ordinary man" in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It begins in the mid-70s with him as a 26 year old assistant florist, and ends with him hosting the titular dinner party in 1997, his life having changed beyond recognition, but in some ways coming back to where the book began...
Over the course of the book we meet Larry's parents, friends, and most notably the women in his life. He is first married to Dorrie, with whom he honeymoons in the UK and discovers a passion for mazes on a visit to Hampton Court Palace. They buy a house and have a son, Ryan, together. At this stage in life, Larry and Dorrie struggle to articulate or even understand their love for each other, and Larry leaves after Dorrie destroys the miniature maze he has been building in their garden.
He next forms a relationship with the intelligent and articulate scholar Beth, and they move to Chicago while Larry begins to develop his career as an internationally recgnised maze designer. They eventually begin to quarrel, and Beth leaves for a teaching position in London.
At the end of the novel, in 1997, Larry and his then girlfriend Charlotte decide to throw a party, on an occasion when both Dorrie and Beth are in town. This final, justly famous and eventful, chapter, leads Larry to some realisations that, maze-like, return him back to where he came from.
What I liked
It’s a rather delightful read overall, if I’m honest. Easy-going, yet rich and packed with human insight, it’s my favourite winner to date. Much more readable and grounded than the first two winners, it’s probably one of the more domestically focused of the winners of both Prizes I’ve been reading to date. In its focus on relationships and eschewing of “grander themes” it reminded me a little in tone of something like ‘70s Booker winner Holiday by Stanley Middleton, albeit much more elaborate and interesting.
It’s clear that there are allusions to the maze-like (or perhaps labyrinth-like, depending on your philosophy?) nature of life throughout the book, which inform its structure, but they’re not too intrusive - they don’t call themselves out and don’t seem to dictate the structure, but just sit nicely underneath it. In fact, they’re actually quite handy as crucial bits of information often get repeated for effect which keeps the whole experience unusually clear and lucid (though could frustrate some readers I suppose).
While the storytelling is broadly chronological, Shields gives herself freedom to jump around in each section by allocating a theme to each chapter which is highly relevant to its specific phase of Larry’s life but also opens up explorations of other time periods (e.g. “Larry’s Work”, “Larry’s Friends”, and more entertainingly “Larry’s Search For the Wonderful and the Good” and of course “Larry’s Penis”).
Larry is a nicely rounded character, if a little generic an “everyman” (at least to begin with). You certainly see him from every angle, flaws and all.
There are laughs. Not exactly belly laughs, but wry smiles, smile-inducing observations, that sort of thing.
What I didn’t like
Nothing that really dented my enjoyment, but I guess if you were being hyper-critical it is another novel very much populated with people of a certain milieu (white, middle/upper class urban intellectuals) - I suppose Larry and Dorrie don’t necessarily start there, but that’s ultimately where the main action seems to be situated.
It’s also a novel of many small observations, rather than any grand conclusions. No big deal, but it may feel lacking in “heft” to some.
Food & drink pairings
Guests at the titular party were treated to a butternut squash and ginger soup, a leg of lamb (crucially with lima beans) and a chocolate cake (Bavarian not Austrian).
Drinks included Champagne, Beaujolais, Muscat, and Brandy - so take your pick!
Fun facts
The Women’s Prize made it two Canadian winners in its first three years, following 1997’s win for Anne Michaels.
In 2001, Larry’s Party was adapted into a stage musical by Richard Ouzounian and Marek Norman, which starred Brent Carver as Larry. It had its premiere at CanStage in Toronto, Ontario.
Vanquished Foes
Kirsten Bakis (Lives of the Monster Dogs)
Pauline Melville (The Ventriloquist's Tale)
Ann Patchett (The Magician's Assistant)
Deirdre Purcell (Love Like Hate Adore)
Anita Shreve (The Weight of Water)
Any tips from this list?
The 1998 Booker went to Ian McEwan for the rather slight and silly Amsterdam.
Context
In 1998:
Good Friday Agreement signed between British and Irish governments and most Northern Irish parties
Bill Clinton / Monica Lewinsky affair breaks, leading to impeachment proceedings against the president
Andrew Wakefield article in The Lancet about supposed links between MMR vaccine and Autism is published. Discredited and fully retracted in 2010, it was a spur to the nascent anti-vaccine movement.
Nuclear testing by India and Pakistan
Second Congo War begins. Lasting until 2003, it will be one of the bloodiest in history.
Creation of permanent International Criminal Court to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity
European Central Bank established
US Embassy bombings in Nairobi and elsewhere, linked to Osama bin Laden
Indictment and arrest of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet
Hugo Chavez elected president of Venezuela
Google, Inc. formed in California by Larry Page and Sergey Brin
Geri Halliwell leaves the Spice Girls
Israel's Dana International wins the Eurovision Song Contest with "Diva"
Britney Spears, "...Baby One More Time"
Massive Attack, Mezzanine
Madonna, Ray of Light
Beastie Boys, Hello Nasty
Andrew Motion becomes UK Poet Laureate following death of Ted Hughes
Nick Hornby, About a Boy
Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Ted Hughes, Birthday Letters
Shakespeare in Love
The Big Lebowski
The Truman Show
Life Lessons
Things will sort themselves out in the end
I wish I knew what I knew now… etc.
Score
8.5
Such a solid, enjoyable read. No fireworks, but that’s hardly the point.
Ranking to date:
Larry’s Party (1998) - Carol Shields - 8.5
A Spell of Winter (1996) - Helen Dunmore - 8
Fugitive Pieces (1997) - Anne Michaels - 6.5
Next up
I’m looking forward to checking out a relatively recent release for once, in the shape of Douglas Stuart’s Young Mungo. Next on the Women’s Prize list it’s Suzanne Berne’s 1999 winner, A Crime in the Neighborhood.
