The Last Guru shows that many Americans have lost their spiritual way and will follow any idiot who pretends to be a spiritual leader, as is the case with the clown Hodie MacBodhi, who represents a fast-food chain. Harold, without realizing it at first, undertakes a spiritual journey that will enable him to answer the need of many people for spiritual guidance. Typical of Pinkwater's novels, The Last Guru begins in an ordinary setting, a suburb where Harold lives with his parents and Uncle Roy.

This echoes D. H. Lawrence's "The Rocking Horse Winner" (1936), a short story in which an uncle helps his young nephew bet on horse races, and the boy turns out to have a knack for picking winners. The money won does not fill the spiritual vacuum at the heart of their lives—though many devoutly wish it, money cannot do so—and...