Less by Andrew Sean Greer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The book's eponymous protagonist, Arthur Less, goes on an eight-country world tour in order to avoid the wedding of his ex-boyfriend and the emotional turmoil inherent in that event. Faced with a looming invitation, Less isn't up for the torture of attending, but neither can he decline without a good reason without seeming petty, sullen, or both. And, even if he does decline, he doesn't want to be around the acquaintances who will pity him, attempt to comfort him, or both. With that in mind, he gathers together a collection of invitations for writing assignments, a writers' conference, and an adjunct teaching assignment, and cobbles together an itinerary that will keep him out of the country until well after the wedding.
Less is a novelist of some renown, which is to say one of his books was highly regarded - though his others were far less so - and he long-lived in the shadow of one of America's great men of letters with whom he had a long-term relationship. The comedic tone of the book is set by the hapless nature we see in the character. He finds himself a secondary figure in the high-brow world of American literature, but is never completely at ease and confident in that space. Of course, when he sets out traveling in Mexico, Europe, Morocco, India, and Japan, he finds himself even less at ease than usual.
There are various mishaps along the way that make this book comedic in nature, but it also has a nostalgic melancholy about it. Not only did Less's relationship break up followed rapidly by his ex-boyfriend becoming engaged, but one thing will happen during his travels that he can't escape - he will turn 50. This milestone causes him to reflect upon what he might have done differently, but also causes him concern that he hasn't enough life left to make a good go of living - either as a writer or as someone who would like to be in a relationship again.
I won't get into the ending in detail, but will say that I was pleased to see that it didn't just peter out into Less's return home, but rather leaves the reader with some food for thought via the turn of events one learns about.
Needless to say, I'd recommend this book for fiction readers - particularly literary fiction readers, though it is light, readable, and short for literary fiction. This book won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
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