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    Less: A Novel
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    Less: A Novel
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    Less: A Novel
    Audiobook8 hours

    Less: A Novel

    Written by Andrew Sean Greer

    Narrated by Robert Petkoff

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Who says you can't run away from your problems?

    You are a failed novelist about to turn 50. 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.

    Question: How do you arrange to skip town?
    Answer: You accept them all.

    What would possibly go wrong?

    Arthur Less will almost fall in love in Paris, almost fall to his death in Berlin, barely escape to a Moroccan ski chalet from a Saharan sandstorm, accidentally book himself as the (only) writer-in-residence at a Christian Retreat Center in Southern India, and encounter, on a desert island in the Arabian Sea, the last person on Earth he wants to face. Somewhere in there: He will turn 50. Through it all there is his first love. And there is his last.

    Because despite all these mishaps, missteps, misunderstandings, and mistakes, Less is, above all, a love story.

    A scintillating satire of the American abroad, a rumination on time and the human heart, a bittersweet romance of chances lost, by an author the New York Times has hailed as "inspired, lyrical", "elegiac", and "ingenious" as well as "too sappy by half", Less shows a writer at the peak of his talents raising the curtain on our shared human comedy.

    A Hachette Audio production.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateJul 18, 2017
    ISBN9781478966296
    Unavailable
    Less: A Novel
    Author

    Andrew Sean Greer

    Andrew Sean Greer is the bestselling author of The Story of a Marriage and The Confessions of Max Tivoli, which was a Today book club selection and received a California Book Award. He lives in San Francisco.

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    Reviews for Less

    3.5/5

    912 ratings92 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Is it too pithy to just say I wanted MORE from Less?
    • 2/5
      I one word... Boring! Could not get through this one even though it has been touted as a Pulitzer Prize winner. All I can say is blech. Don't waste your time on this one. Avoid at all costs.
    • 4/5
      It isn't often that a comic novel wins the Pulitzer Prize, but the story of how Arthur Less, a middling mid-list author embarks on a round the world tour, paid for by various speakers bureaus and literary societies is just a delight.Less embarks on this trip after his younger partner leaves him to marry another man. Going through his desk, Less realizes that he has enough invitations to speak at various literary events to take him around the world on other people's money. An so he embarks on a voyage that is both hilarious and self revelatory.In the end, Less realizes along with the reader, that he has led a pretty wonderful life.
    • 4/5
      Arthur Less undertakes a trip around the world in order to avoid the wedding of his former lover. This novel has wit and compassion as it describes this author tour, during which Arthur faces people from his past, both in person and in his mind.
    • 4/5
      Sad-sack Arthur Less is a mid-list (and falling fast) novelist, about to turn 50, and still depressed about the end of his relationship with a younger man. When his ex invites him to his upcoming wedding, it sounds like a nice gesture, but Less would rather be anywhere else, so he accepts a series of invitations to dubious conferences and other events, and heads off for a writer's tour of Europe, where very little goes right.This a sweet novel, often humorous but to me not laugh-out-loud funny as some say, more smiley. Less is a sympathetic character, quirky and just woebegone enough to make you care but not enough to make him annoying. It was easy and satisfying to root for him.
    • 3/5
      Decent book, not my favorite Pulitzer. I enjoyed traveling with Less but he is not my favorite protagonist by a long shot.
    • 5/5
      Arthur Less is a writer whose latest novel has been rejected by his publisher and needs to be rewritten. His ex-lover is getting married and he doesn't want to go to the wedding. He concocts a trip around the world, made up of lectures, seminars, readings, book prize awards, and whatever else he can jam in so he has an excuse to avoid the wedding and work on his book.I often think Pulitzer Prize or Booker Prize books are over-rated to some degree, but I wish I had more stars to give to Less. The writing is superb, often meandering long sentences that are perfectly descriptive or terse comments that made me laugh out loud. Arthur himself is a mild, sad man, about to turn fifty and apprehensive about it. He could be boring yet he is so likable. He sees the humor in the various accidents and escapades that he falls into on his travels. He's reflective yet innocent, called Peter Pan by his students. His claim to fame is his earlier relationship with a famous poet. He and Robert are still friends, but Robert was much older than Arthur. Freddy, the younger man who is marrying someone else now, is still much on Arthur's mind. The story travels from San Francisco to Mexico, Italy, Germany, France, Morocco, India, and Japan. Those settings are a delight as Arthur wanders like Odessyus around the globe, seeking his real home and purpose. Arthur's failed book is about a man who wanders around San Francisco for a day. I loved how it parallels his global journey. When Arthur finally finds his real courage and purpose, he's able to rewrite his book.Anyway, this is definitely a book I'll want to reread over and over.
    • 2/5
      A few good laughs, but overall a Lifetime movie of a book.
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book. Part adventure, part reminiscence. Laugh out loud funny at times. And the ending? One of the hugest grins on record came over me as I read the very last word. This book was so very enjoyable. Arthur Less is someone I would love to know.
    • 4/5
      A meandering, but very funny and rather touching, meditation on middle age and love. A witty romcom for the literary set.
    • 3/5
      This fell victim to too much praise. Not a bad story in any way, but not good enough to fill the internet, in my opinion. Fun here and there, sad at times, but not gripping or adoreable or heartfelt. The best I got out of this was the correct pronunciation of Pulitzer (Pull-it-sir, not Pew-lit-sir)! I think I should continue to avoid books with too much hype, since I am always let down by my expectations.
    • 5/5
      Positively delightful. Smart and funny and splendidly written. For those who know B and C list authors who make their way in the world traveling from this writers' workshop to that, this guest lecture to the next, this blurb to that think-piece on the connections between the decline in sales for serious literature and the rise of Instagram celebrities, this will resonate. This is a book about getting out of your life, and your social circle, to change your lens and to have a truer view of your world. There is a gorgeous arc here, a true epiphany that boils down to choosing to see the world and write about it from a perspective outside one's own head which is embedded in one's own ass. And also and ultimately, this is a love story, or a series of love stories, all different and beautiful and absolutely imperfect. This feels like a roman a clef, but I know nothing about the author so heck if I know. If its not autobiographical I would be amazed because everything here is so very true.
    • 4/5
      This is an hilarious novel about Arthur Less, a "minor" writer approaching his 50th birthday and wanting an excuse to avoid his ex-boyfriend's wedding. So he plans a trip around the world. Follow our hapless hero, a "minor" author, as strings together a series of literary engagements in New York, Mexico, Italy, Germany, France, India, and Japan.....
    • 4/5
      So this won the Pulitzer Prize. Throughout the book I kept thinking this is an interesting story but not spectacular in any way. And every once in a while there would be some profound thought or nugget that gave was insightful. But the crux of the book was in the last chapter or so. The "surprise" ending. Does that make a book great to condense the wonder of it all in the last few pages (eg. Atonement). So it was okay, but most of the time I didn't care at all what Arthur Less was doing.
    • 2/5
      Despite its self-referential comments about books about middle-aged white men and their "problems," this is still just a book about a middle-aged white (albeit gay) man and his "problems"--and he's a writer, to boot. Not much for me here. Abandoned.
    • 2/5
      Sorry. I read about 90 pages of LESS and, well .. nothing. It just seemed like so much fluff. I could not relate. It did not engage me. And I'm pretty sure it's not because it has a gay protagonist - a minor writer, Arthur Less - because I've read gay writers who wrote about gay people and enjoyed them. Timothy Findlay, John Boyne, Stephen McCauley and others come to mind. And I like to read about writers and the writing life too.There just seemed to be so little of substance here. And this book won the PULITZER? I just finished reading the runner-up, Elif Batuman's THE IDIOT, which was worlds better than LESS, and should have won. This book? Nope. Not recommended. (Fortunately, I got the book at a library sale for just a buck. It looked brand new, so I suspect the previous owner couldn't read it either.) - Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER
    • 3/5
      I'd characterize this as a "day in the life" book crossed with a coming of age. Seems to me that a lot of white men don't get their shit together until they're 50 and Arthur Less is not an exception. Coincidentally the author will turn 50 shortly and so will I. Less does it in weeks, I will in months (from this writing) and the author a couple of years, but boy are we in different places. I hope I keep my head on straight when the day actually comes (I will be on a mini-vacation doing my favorite thing, so I think I'll be ok). 'Less' funny than it's billed, it does have some amusing parts and isn't too over-the-top in terms of absurdity. Arthur's homosexuality is a major part of the story, but it isn't pivotal, it just is. I like that about the book and that the quest for love and acceptance is universal.
    • 5/5
      This is the 4th novel I have read by Greer, who I met at a book reading. His breakout book "Confessions of Max Tivoli" was a reverse aging book and was excellent. "Less" is a different type of book for him. It is about a gay mid-renown writer who is approaching his 50th birthday. The book goes back and forth in time and the backdrop is a trip around the world. Arthur Less's adventures are done is a very funny way but also are insightful on many levels. Greer's language is great and as much as I have liked his other novels, I think this is his most entertaining. A perfect introduction to Greer and do I recommend his last 4 novels.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyable, charming and ultimately very sweet look at midlife and love and all the trappings.
    • 4/5
      Arthur, a minor novelist, receives a wedding invitation from his former lover and, rather than attend, accepts various invitations to lecture or receive extremely obscure literary awards, in what turns into a round the world tour.Arthur was an underwhelming but endearing protagonist, and I found this novel clever, well-written and wryly amusing, but it lacked narrative impetus - I could have put it down at any point and struggled to pick it up again.
    • 4/5
      This review below may contains spoilers.

      We followed the Journey of a middle-age gay writer “Arthur Less” as he travelled from US to Mexico, Germany, France, Morocco (where he spent his 50th birthday alone), India and Japan; just to avoid a wedding invitation from an ex? He went to many places while his mind busy recollecting memories of past events and lovers, about getting older, happiness and loneliness. One day he met somebody from the literally world “I am kind enough to tell you this: you are a bad gay, Mr. Less.” They claimed.
      A bad gay for apparently not writing enough necessary things about other gay people?

      But of course Less is not like that, as the person who voices this story; He was a lovely person, he had lived life with doubts and regrets, but also, most importantly—and luckily—with “loves.”
    • 5/5
      The author has a beautiful and perfect way of describing the ordinary.
    • 3/5
      not what I was anticipating, but still a good read.
    • 5/5
      What I like the most about this book was style that it was Written in.
    • 2/5
      In spite of my indifference to the synopsis of Less I decided to read it because it won the Pulitzer Prize.The storyline is simple. A gay couple’s long term relationship abruptly ends. To soften the heartbreak, the blindsided partner, Arthur Less – a published author, accepts multiple invitations to speak to audiences about his writing. These invitations are worldwide (Mexico, Italy, Germany, Morocco, Japan), and he believes the adventure will afford plenty of opportunity to put the past behind him.Arthur’s various adventures are mostly amusing, recounted somewhat satirically, but also with a hint of regret and sadness. The retrospectives paint Arthur in a poor light, having been both unfaithful and presumptuous in his own former relationships. Arthur’s character is equally likeable and unlikeable, but in no way is he admirable. I will say there are some sentimental nuances, mostly the self-deprecating kind, that the Greer captures perfectly.Nevertheless, the Pulitzer?

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Meet Arthur Less. An acclaimed author, a "bad gay", a man traveling around the world in search of his soul, his youth, his identity, while his luggage is on it's own separate journey. Arthur is less than he expects of himself, seems less loved/loveable than others in his opinion, less together, less many things. Yet, what does his beloved Freddy realize he wants more than anything? Why, Less, of course. An absolutely lovely book about aging, self-image, life and love.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This is a very intelligent award winning novel about the life of a gay author. This is a biography dealing with different periods in his life. One deals with a time when as a young man he is taken under the wing of a highly respected author, Another era that was covered is when he is forty nine when he is looking back at his relationship with a younger man in years past. While he is having his recollections he is on an extended tour of Europe, Africa and Asia. Arthur Less, the main character, has a symbolic name as he seems be dogged by a constant sense of insecurity.in his life. A very well written book by a wonderful young author.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Surprising and not what I expected from a Pulitzer Prize winner! Humorous, in a dry way, and though it could seem glib at times, there is a depth to the story and experience of the aging, questioning man that captures you, if you let it. Less is one of those characters who stays with you - bumbling, questioning, feeling his way through life. As one character suggested, though his story might seem tragic, it is ultimately comedic.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Arthur Less, a failed novelist about to turn 50, needs to skip town so he can avoid the wedding of his boyfriend of 9 years. He decides to accept all the invitations to half-baked literary events around the world so he can plausibly decline the invitation. What could possibly go wrong? Less’s misadventures in New York, Paris, Berlin, Italy, and Morocco were by turns laugh out loud funny, touching, and tragic. I loved this Pulitzer prize winning love story.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Less, this is our protagonists last name and is code for how he often feels less than others around him. Clever book, wordy and fun, the author can write to amuse, no wonder he won a Pulitzer. This unusual novel of a gay man traveling the world to spare himself going to his former boyfriends wedding and his self deprecation as he meets his various international hosts on a tour to discuss his famous first love a poet from the late 60's and 70's. Witty and quick, energized with great language and reflection about being shy, feeling alone or "less".

      1 person found this helpful