Less is very definitely more
Pulitzer-prize winning tale of love, anxiety and avoidance is a treasure
Words Uli Lenart
BOOK OF THE MONTH
LESS
Andrew Sean Greer/Abacus
This ingenious and hilarious Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a middle-aged, almostsuccessful gay author running away from his problems is one of the most brilliant and endearing books we’ve read in ages. Anxious, sensitive and single, Arthur Less is about to turn 50. Then a wedding invitation arrives in the post, from a former long-term boyfriend, who is now engaged to someone else. Arthur can’t say yes — it would be too awkward — but he can’t say no: it would look like defeat. So, he begins to accept the invitations on his desk to half-baked literary events around the world. From France to India, and Germany to Japan, Arthur embarks on an odyssey of evasion during which he almost falls in love, almost falls to his death, and puts miles between him and the plight he refuses to face. A book about aging, relationships, disappointment and the inevitable absurdity of life, Less is like a friend you didn’t know you had, who wraps your heartache in laughter and makes you see that it’s all going to work out fine in the end. We adored this wonderful book. 22 May