Larry Ott

Larry is the first of the book’s two principal characters. Their relationship, played out in both the past and the present, is the primary manifestation of one of the book’s key themes: the enduring power of friendship.

The two men are simultaneously very different and quite similar. In terms of the latter, both men lack positive father figures; both were close to their mothers; and both experience social ostracism and/or isolation. In Larry’s case, his father was violent and abusive, and died relatively early in Larry’s life, while his increasingly vulnerable mother was one of the few people in Larry’s life who made a point of demonstrating her affection and compassion for him. In terms of being socially ostracized, Larry’s childhood and youth was troubled by dismissiveness and verbal violence from his peers, much of which was triggered by his...