Less

by Andrew Sean Greer | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0349143595 Global Overview for this book
Registered by mitziyah of Seattle, Washington USA on 6/21/2021
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1 journaler for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by mitziyah from Seattle, Washington USA on Monday, June 21, 2021
was definitely NOT sure about this novel for the first few chapters. It felt just so calculated, a sharp skewering of writers and publishing, winking at the reader. The Pulitzer Prize win felt like a prize for reflecting an industry and a group back to themselves, and we humans SO love that. (See all the “Mank” Oscar nominations. In-group lampoonings are often beloved by the in-group, but I wasn't sure I was going to care about this story or these people. But I started to see beyond Less and see what the narrator was actually revealing. Plus the lovely metaphors and the secretly beautiful phrases and descriptions. Then the heart of this novel snuck up on me. The author is very skilled, and I'm glad I didn't discount this. Because at its surface, Arthur Less is just a very uninteresting Eeyore. The later mentions of the novel within the novel (and how readers just aren't that interested in hearing the sad thougths of a white guy in his 50's wandering SF, even if he is gay) are very illuminating and well done. It's also a very funny novel, but in a sly way. Less's spoken dialogue is often super sharp and hilarious, but seeing his sad sack inner thoughts could dampen that, if you're not paying attention. And that also explains the seeming-disconnect between how most people treat him (fondly, seeming to enjoy his company, laughing and wanting to have conversation with him) and how he is feeling/observing the world around him. So once you realize what's happening with the narration and realize there are at least two stories happening here (Less' inner thoughts and Less's actual actions/words in the world), it becomes way more enjoyable. I can definitely see how some readers couldn't shake the doldrums to be able to enjoy this story. But boy, I sure ended up having a blast reading this. So glad I stuck past those first few chapters, when I was sure I knew what this story was, and didn't think I cared for another self-congratulatory NYC publishing in-group exploration. And then this turned into the most interesting travel memoir, too, as Less agrees to a series of literary events and freelance gigs that will take him around the world (thereby missing the wedding of his former lover, and avoiding his 50th birthday at home). Lots of explorations of love and heartache and aging. About art and writing and sense of self and worth and how one should live ones life. There are some impressive observational skills (of the human condition, of the human heart, of the different countries visited...or more accurately, of the experience of being a traveler in those countries). From its beginning, I definitely didn't predict that this novel would end up being so tender and such a fan of love. And the discussion that, just because a relationship ends after 20 years Does Not Mean that said relationship wa a failure. Other collaborations of 20 years would be considered a triumph. You definitely need to be in the proper headspace for this novel, and be willing to give it a few chapters and to look between the lines, figure out what's happening with the narration, and start piecing things together. But I ended up finding this novel a delight. And now, here are two of the many descriptions I highlighted:


“He kisses—how do I explain it? Like someone in love. Like he has nothing to lose. Like someone who has just learned a foreign language and can use only the present tense and only the second person. Only now, only you.”


“Strange to be almost fifty, no? I feel like I just understood how to be young."
"Yes! It's like the last day in a foreign country. You finally figure out where to get coffee, and drinks, and a good steak. And then you have to leave. And you won't ever be back.”

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