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Less

by Greer, Andrew Sean

  • New
  • Paperback
Condition
New
ISBN 10
031631613X
ISBN 13
9780316316132
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Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom
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About This Item

Back Bay Books, 2018. Paperback. New. reprint edition. 261 pages. 8.50x5.50x0.50 inches.

Synopsis

A struggling author gets an invitation in the mail to a wedding - from his boyfriend of the past 9 years. As his fiftieth birthday approaches, he's desperate to avoid wedding - without seeming desperate, so he accepts a bunch of literary engagements throughout the world and sets off, only to fall into mishap after mishap. This love story takes you around the world in a awkward comical romance. 

Read More: Identifying first editions of Less

Reviews

On Sep 3 2022, CloggieDownunder said:
Less is the first novel in the Less series by award-winning best-selling American author, Andrew Sean Greer. Quickly approaching fifty, Arthur Less is dismayed to be invited to the wedding of a former lover. Attending is out of the question: Arthur Less devises a "cats cradle of junkets" that will ensure he is out of the country and very busy while Freddy Pelu marries Tom Dennis in Sonoma, CA.

First on his itinerary is New York City, interviewing an author of a sci-fi series with a cult following. This is preceded by a lunch with his agent, the outcome of which is a shock: his new novel will need a rewrite if it is to attract a publisher.

From there, Mexico City (an interview about his famous lover, poet Robert Brownburn), Turin (nominated for a book award), Berlin (teaching a five-week course), a short, unplanned stop-over in Paris (catch up with a friend), Morocco (to celebrate the birthday of a friend of a friend, and his own), India (a writing retreat, to fix his novel?), and Japan (to review some restaurant meals).

But at each destination, and often, during his travels, Arthur is overwhelmed by reminiscences, reveries, flashbacks, courtesy of those he meets, old friends and new acquaintances, and of little incidents that occur. Much as he would rather not, he recalls not just past lovers, but those he truly loved (and perhaps still does?), and fails to scrub Freddy from his mind and heart.

It's on his fiftieth birthday that he is blessed with an epiphany about his apparently unwanted novel, and it's a delightful irony that it just about describes what Greer has written: "What if it isn't a poignant, wistful novel at all? What if it isn't the story of a sad middle-aged man on a tour of his hometown, remembering the past and fearing the future; a peripateticism of humiliation and regret; the erosion of a single male soul? What if it isn't even sad?"

Greer's protagonist might remind some readers of those that David Nicholls creates: inept, accident-prone, awkward, subject to "those writerly humiliations planned by the universe to suck at the bones of minor artists like him", whose "brain sits before its cash register again, charging him for old shames as if he has not paid before".

And towards the end, his friend/rival tells him "You are the most absurd person I've ever met. You've bumbled through every moment and been a fool; you've misunderstood and misspoken and tripped over absolutely everything and everyone in your path, and you've won. And you don't even realize it."

The story is related by an unnamed narrator whose identity gradually becomes clear. Greer's plot, characters and prose are entertaining and enjoyable, and it's no surprise that this novel was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Literature. Fans will be pleased to know they can look forward to a sequel, Less Is Lost.

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Details

Bookseller
Revaluation Books GB (GB)
Bookseller's Inventory #
x-031631613X
Title
Less
Author
Greer, Andrew Sean
Format/Binding
Paperback
Book Condition
New New
Quantity Available
2
ISBN 10
031631613X
ISBN 13
9780316316132
Publisher
Back Bay Books
Date Published
2018

Terms of Sale

Revaluation Books

30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.

About the Seller

Revaluation Books

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 4 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2020
Exeter, Devon

About Revaluation Books

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Glossary

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New
A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
Reprint
Any printing of a book which follows the original edition. By definition, a reprint is not a first edition.
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