Less

This is perhaps the best book to read when you are just shy of your 50th birthday and your life is a bit of a mess. It is extraordinarily deft, full of dry wit and self-deprecating humor. It is light and warm and unexpectedly profound and wise. I felt a deep sympathy for Arthur Less, and was so invested in the outcome that I actually cried at the end of this funny, funny book. It has not quite spoiled me for other reading, but I will remember how wonderful it was for a very long time.

Good but not fabulous.

Abandoning. What's a polite way to say, I was thoroughly bored?

Maybe the rave reviews set me up for mild disappointment. Still an enjoyable read, though I wished it was less... sentimental. Maybe only the author/us could love his creation/ life the way it should be appreciated and adored (hint hint).

Like any curious writer, I occasionally read the award-winning books of the Pulitzer and Booker variety. I also watch award-winning movies (Oscars, Golden Globes, etc.) and listen to award-winning albums (Grammys, Pulitzer, et al.). I like to see what all the hub-bub is about and judge for myself. I really wanted to love Less by Andrew Sean Greer. It's classified as humorous (awesome) literary (even better) fiction. That's my wheelhouse (disclaimer: I also write humorous literary fiction). Unfortunately, I didn't love it. Sad, I know.

Published book blurb for Less: Who says you can't run away from your problems? You are a failed novelist about to turn fifty. A wedding invitation arrives in the mail: your boyfriend of the past nine years is engaged to someone else. You can't say yes–it would be too awkward–and you can't say no–it would look like defeat. On your desk are a series of invitations to half-baked literary events around the world. How do you arrange to skip town? You accept them all.

This is the setup to how Arthur Less avoids suffering and humiliation. He escapes. And this is what Greer uses to setup a series of comedic situations to drop author Arthur Less into. Some are amusing. Arthur believes he's fluent in German (he's not) while staying in Germany. His translated books are brilliant overseas (they're not. Maybe artfully translated). Comedic (?) foibles unfold. Arthur flies around the world, takes pills, hops in the sack(s) with various assistants and travel companions. He ruminates about past transgressions. Or does he since the book is narrated by someone else? This someone's identity is the novel's big reveal. Don't worry; I won't spoil it.

I found the character of Less to be annoying and unlikeable. I know there are readers that are attracted to this type of hot-mess, Peter Pan-esque, worried about aging / too vain for their own good character. I guess I'm not one of them. The narrator is fascinated with Arthur Less, infatuated even, the same way a pet owner is in love with their scrappy dog that pees on the rug while they claim it to be the cutest dog in the world. It's not; it's a dog that pees on the rug.

There is an airy, whimsical quality to Greer's writing. It goes down like a fresh-baked croissant does with an espresso while sitting on the patio of a French bistro. But there is also a shallowness that is cloying. It's lack of plot is unfortunate. And I kept thinking: What is so great about Arthur Less? More so, what is so great about Less? There is no accounting for the taste of the Pulitzer judges, I guess.

In the book, there is a passage where Arthur's old flame, Robert, actually wins the Pulitzer Prize (just like Andrew Sean Greer did?!), then a mutual friend of theirs explains:

“Prizes aren't love. Because people who never met you can't love you. The slots for winners are already set, from here until Judgment Day. They know the kind of poet who's going to win, and if you happen to fit the slot, then bully for you! It's like fitting a hand-me-down suit. It's luck, not love. Not that it isn't nice to have luck... “

I guess this novel had the luck this time. It must have been awkward for Greer to receive the Pulitzer after writing such a passage. Right? Probably not. He won the prize anyway. Bully for him.

Well, at least he wanted less (Less, sorry). Actually, the fact that he wanted Less (less, sorry), made the whole thing make sense.
The writing is amazing, the charm I fail to see.

Despite this not being my kind of novel - I usually don't get drawn to quirky fun novels, let alone travelogues - I actually enjoyed this. It's warm without being cheesy, witty and occasionally very heartfelt. The part about the couple splitting up after 20 years, and those 20 years representing a success, and not a failure, was fantastic.

I liked this, but I wonder if I'd like it more if I'd read it in a more focused way - I kind of dipped in and out over a few weeks, so I kept forgetting who characters were or where Less was in any given chapter, but that's very much on me and not the book's fault. I loved the narrator's voice and I binged the last 75 pages or so (from Morocco on), and it was just so satisfying and the strangest, sweetest little love story at the end of it all, which was unexpected and so charming.

(Just for the record: happiness is not bullshit.)

I liked this book a lot but not quite as much as I expected to after having been told by many friends how amazing it is. The descriptions are vivid and I absolutely felt like I had a strong grasp of the protagonist but I wasn't wowed. If you like books about writers and artists and the processes inherent to both you'll enjoy this book a lot.

Slow start and I really did not like the main character. His lack of depth and self pity for a white privileged male (albeit gay) who is traveling the world was very off putting. I cannot believe that this won the Pulitzer Prize. The writing style was unique, but that was the only interesting thing.

Cute fluffy summer reading.
I cannot fathom why this won a Pulitzer; it has as much plot as a SweetDreams romance but with less emotional growth for the protagonist.

Beautifully written, and I kept wanting to pick it up and come back to it, so I'm not quite sure why I didn't connect better with this book. Perhaps reading about other people traveling just isn't in my jam; I could appreciate Less's exploits, but the parts I loved were less about the traveling, more about Less's relationships over long years; not even chronologically, but getting to see them unfold over time and through the context of other relationships.

I didn't necessarily know/believe/care that Freddy was the narrator all along. Seemed like a weak device; it really wouldn't have mattered at all to me if the narrator was never named, just someone who had been on the periphery of Less's life all along, one of the Russian Whatevers Group. And I had read that this was a love story before I began, but I would consider it more of a series of love stories recalled, and didn't find the ending particularly necessary; it would have been better if Freddy hadn't married Tom at all and had stuck around for Less to get back (which is where I thought Carlos was going with his talking to Less, regarding the night before the wedding), or if Freddy had gone through with the wedding and stuck with Tom because he actually wanted to. But there's a lot about the relationships in this book that I could appreciate, even if I didn't understand or agree with the ways in which they played out. And right towards the end, I thought the love story was going to be Robert after all.

It's hard not to go into this without some expectation. This won the Pulitzer after all. High literature and human comedy - we're setting the difficulty level on expert here. Freighted with all that, I'm underwhelmed at the offset. Arthur nearly misses hosting an author interview due to a stopped clock and a handler who thinks he should be a woman.

Where are we going with this? It's starts to feel like a gay Eat, Pray, Love. “A white middle-aged American man walking around with his white middle-aged American sorrows? ...It's a little hard to feel sorry for a guy like that.” notes Arthur's lesbian friend at one point in the novel. And his pratfalls begin to appear less dire misfortune but rather a product of his own self-consciousness.

But Greer does manage to win me over.

Arthur is nearing fifty having survived life's “humiliations and disappointments and heartaches and missed opportunities, bad dads and bad jobs and bad sex and bad drugs, all the trips and mistakes and face-plants of life.” This is warmth in book form. Moments of wonder and unexpected beauty written with an easy grace that had me rooting for Arthur. And Greer really stuck the landing on this one. Lovely.

I loved every page of this wonderful, poignant, heartwarming, amusing book. It should be required reading for all 49-year-olds.

I could not help but wonder if we (including me) would have taken this book so seriously had the love affair involved a woman. It's not the responsibility of this book to take that on, but that thought was never far from my mind while reading.

“Less” is far more (har har) than a middle-aged, semi-obscure writer running away from the rather sudden marriage of an ex-lover. It is looking back at your shining, golden youth and missing looking at a head full of hair and a face lacking wrinkles. It is realizing that you are no longer one of the youngest people at work, but heading into the older vanguard. It is thinking that your last, best chance at love is over and it's time to get fat.

But, it's also about taking risks when your life, to that point, has been a series of passive acts. Arthur Less does not hide in his San Francisco home in response to heartbreak. It is with hope that Arthur Less books an around-the-world trip; hoping to avoid his ex-lover's wedding (to which he was invited!!), hoping to start off he trip with his latest book picked up by his long-time publisher, hoping to find solace in a series of new places. Yet, this introspective, gentle man, unable to break a paper wall when trapped in a Japanese restaurant, spends the trip doing the opposite; running into friends who bring up Freddy and ask him about his novel, or, even worse, retch or fall into strange illnesses in country after country.

At first, I found myself enjoying Mr. Greer's writing and the nonsensical situations Arthur Less was in. At times, the book played in my head like a 1930's screwball comedy. As I followed Arthur Less around the world, more of his introverted sweetness cane out, with more confusion arising about who the narrator was. It is not until Arthur loses his old standbys (the too-young blue suit, the well-intentioned fitness bands, amongst other things) and truly acknowledges what he has lost that he can arrive at home to his Penelope, who has ditched his husband to return to Less.

This book is also about fathers and father figures, or the lack thereof. Arthur remembers many of the father-son activities his Dad set up, which were barely besmirched when Arthur learned the activities were suggested by a book intended to desissify sons. Arthur also remembers how few of the Baby Boomer gay men of his acquaintance survived the AIDS epidemic. Effectively, Robert Brownburn becomes Arthur's first real relationship, later devolving into friendship then infidelity. And Arthur muses on becoming that same, looked-up-to elder as the Millennials come of age. At the same time, he asked the middle-age-old question of what have I done with half a century and what's even left for my aging self?

The answer for Arthur Less: A lot.

The PBS News Hour's Now Read This Book Club posted discussion questions for this delightful novel here: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/discussion-questions-for-less

I'll endeavour to include no spoilers, just an overview.

The simplest explanation of this book would be to say it's a gay version of “Eat Pray Love” . So it feels familiar as a device, and a bit tired.

The characters unfold eventually but for me the book really doesn't come alive until its final third. Some early relationships lack any emotional depth, you wonder why the german boy is there at all? Others make such a brief appearance you think should they have been included at all?

The narrator changing voice to various characters doesn't work for me. I found myself confused about who i was hearing from. There seemed to be no signposting to say new persons thoughts or experiences. I thought it was a misprint the first time it happened.

As a 48 yo artistic gay man i understand the story, appreciate the charm of our protagonist and the loving way he is explored by the author. I suspect that compassion is what will stay with me from this book.

Started reading this a few months ago, but got distracted. Started again with the audiobook, and loved it. The narrator makes all the difference. This book is included in the Now Read This Book Club from PBS Newshour and The NYT Book Review.

Makes me want to be a better person.

Oh how lovely this was.

I thought this was delightfully funny. Not laugh out loud funny, but I would catch myself smiling as I read and that's a good sign. Arthur is nothing short of lovable and his adventures at avoidance were so much fun.

Andrew Sean Greer is a beautiful writer, and I stopped to admire many of his phrases and images. But I didn't find Arthur Less to be as fascinating as the author did, nor did I find his misadventures especially notable. Definitely a sweet ending (and I should be more excited that a book praised by both the NY Times and Washington Post doesn't end with everyone miserable) but I guess just not my cup of tea.