The Gospel According to Larry is a funny, and touching book which is so much more than a social commentary. Josh's unrequited love for Beth, now entering its sixth year, is enough to break anyone's heart and bring back potentially bad memories of crushes gone wrong. The major characters are three dimensional, with Beth going back and forth between her crush for a cute athlete and her respect for "Larry's" anti-commercialism. Peter, Josh's stepfather and ad agency employee, is portrayed as a caring parent who truly does love his stepson, despite their philosophical differences. The set up of the novel is also quite clever. The frame is a story in which the author is handed a manuscript by a young man at the supermarket. The rest of the book is the alleged manuscript, all presented in the original typewritten form.