Less

The author makes much of middle age angst for straights as not being the greatest literature then proceeds to do the same with a gay protagonist. While he has a facility with language and enchanting description, the tale is trite, given a modicum of interest only by the sexual preferences of the main characters.

More than I expected...funny, smart and surprisingly affecting. At first, my complaint with the book was that it was all wit .with no soul, but as the story came to its conclusion, I had to stifle a sob.

This book is great - making me laugh out loud. Our book club chose it for this month's read and I am really enjoying the book. I am starting to care for Arthur - I'm not done with the book yet, but I am pulling for him!
We are in San Francisco - which is even more fun. It's great and I recommend it for universal themes - Arthur and his memories

"Less" is so well written with word phrasing that would make me read and re-read the passage just for the enjoyment. By the end of the book, I felt like I knew Arthur Less and all of his complexities. The book turns and regroups and then turns again. I really enjoyed this book on many levels. Congratulations to the author...and thank you.

Read Less if you love great writing. The writing is better than the story (not to imply that it is not a good story). I loved the humor and found myself highlighting many passages and going back to them just for a laugh. The book provoked me to think about relationships, love, and aging in new ways.

I’m not sure what the Nobel prize committee saw in this book. It has a trite plot, a throwback to so many books about aging Jewish men’s angst. In this book we have an older homosexual protagonist contemplating his existence. I could not finish it because it seemed so predictable.

Funny, honest, fast-paced, a helix of woven story parts and more than once a laugh out loud line, this about as perfect as it gets for a summer read, or to spell you from droll good-for-you prose anytime

Enjoyable book about a homosexual mid-level author, his love life, and travel around the world. I loved the beginning of the book, and thought I'd finally found a gem, but after a while it slowed down and didn't have a lot of meaning for me. It's beautifully written, though.

Got the book (hardcopy and ebook for travel) because of the raves and the Pulitzer. Don't see anything particularly special about this story at all. Seems like the story the publisher in the book didn't want. Could've even predicted the final line. And I'm a 50-something yo single gay guy so you'd think I should be able to really relate. Oh well.

Was this author truly the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize?
The book was an enjoyable read and funny in places, but the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, I would not have voted for the author of this book.
But I don't recall the committee asking for my opinion or vote.

At first the style overpowers the story but once you get in to the rhythm of Less’s adventure you will be swept away, unable to stop reading. Arthur Less represents, in many ways, an Everyman - easily relatable and up against amazing odds (if at times predicable) in his struggle towards understanding. Not a self discovery of where or how but more so, Why? Why have I ended up where I am now? The greatest relief that Less finds is in the not knowing; the release of fear and acceptance of inevitability. And yet, a deep current of Hope is what fuels Less onward.

Best novel I have read in forever. It is absolutely stunning. If you need huge plot, probably not your thing. But if you just want to spend some hours with an amazing depiction of a person's life. . .this is it.

Several of the novel's characters as well as Arthur himself and the reader ask themselves this very question. Arthur Less is originally from Camden, Delaware. He is a white, gay man approaching his fiftieth birthday with much trepidation. Arthur has written novels: some good some not so good. He has had many trysts, but only two great loves: an older Pulitzer Prize winning poet and a younger adopted son of Arthur's nemesis. When Arthur's young lover leaves him to marry another man, Arthur goes into a tail-spin. To avoid the wedding, to which he has been invited, Arthur agrees to a half-dozen events that literally take him on a trip around the world at the same time as the wedding is taking place AND when his milestone birthday will occur. He flies form San Francisco to New York to Italy to Berlin to Paris to Morocco to India to Japan and finally, home. Arthur is both a schlimazel and a schlemiel (he is the one who spills the soup and who has the soup spilled upon him). Along the way he has many mishaps and bonanzas. He is a master of charades and pantomime since he is linguistically and culturally challenged. Yet he is resilient, young at heart and endearing. The reader will laugh out loud at his mishaps and empathize with the pain of Arthur's many Proustian moments. Though this reader guessed both the author of Arthur's adventures and the book's ending, it was a witty and highly enjoyable read.

The resolution was fairly predictable, the beginning slow and not that interesting - net net it was entertaining, but I"m not sure I see how it won the Pulitzer. The prose was high caliber, 'exquisite' in places to use a word the author frequently employed, and there were some insights/observations worthy of the time spent, and one symbol in particular that was particularly well thought out (not the blue suit on the cover, and I'm giving very little away by noting that). It was enjoyable, maybe my expectations were just too high.

Loved this book; every thing about it. Bought it blind; what a wonderful surprise. Written with a beautiful command of language, with three-dimensional characters and, everywhere, a subtle mischief. Finished this and immediately ordered The Confessions of Max Tivoli, just to get a little more Andrew Sean Greer.

Beautifully written and very funny meditation on aging, love and ars poetica. A trip around the world also reflected in the neat reoccurring themes and references. Most of us at some time and in some way will recognize Less when looking in our own mirror. My only complaint is about the store’s algorithm: the second I downloaded the book, the store thought I would also like a collection of (soft core?) gay porn with bare chested hunks on the cover (none of which I believe are shortlisted for the Pulitzer).

I thoroughly enjoyed the tale of Arthur Less. The insider observations about the ups and downs of trying to publish your work, the insight into being gay and growing old in America, and the array of fascinating characters all kept me interested and enthused. Not unlike a John Updike novel. Delight, meet pain. Order, meet chaos. Youth, meet your graying self.

This is a wonderful story about love and loss and love again! This is an excellent story of how to travel around the world to find love and it is found back where you left. The wonderful return home! Great read!

I was disappointed - I was expecting an exceptionally good story but most of it is about a mediocre man of mediocre character letting life lead him around then reaching the point of feeling sorry for himself.

All about art-loving SanFrancisco gays. Loving and sexy without unpleasant explicit scenes. Like the gay guys we know.the style is witty, occasionally hilarious. Just a shade too long but that is my judgement on almost all contemporary literature.

The resolution was fairly predictable, the beginning slow and not that interesting - net net it was entertaining, but I"m not sure I see how it won the Pulitzer. The prose was high caliber, 'exquisite' in places to use a word the author frequently employed, and there were some insights/observations worthy of the time spent, and one symbol in particular that was particularly well thought out (not the blue suit on the cover, and I'm giving very little away by noting that). It was enjoyable, maybe my expectations were just too high.

Loved this book; every thing about it. Bought it blind; what a wonderful surprise. Written with a beautiful command of language, with three-dimensional characters and, everywhere, a subtle mischief. Finished this and immediately ordered The Confessions of Max Tivoli, just to get a little more Andrew Sean Greer.

Beautifully written and very funny meditation on aging, love and ars poetica. A trip around the world also reflected in the neat reoccurring themes and references. Most of us at some time and in some way will recognize Less when looking in our own mirror. My only complaint is about the store’s algorithm: the second I downloaded the book, the store thought I would also like a collection of (soft core?) gay porn with bare chested hunks on the cover (none of which I believe are shortlisted for the Pulitzer).

I thoroughly enjoyed the tale of Arthur Less. The insider observations about the ups and downs of trying to publish your work, the insight into being gay and growing old in America, and the array of fascinating characters all kept me interested and enthused. Not unlike a John Updike novel. Delight, meet pain. Order, meet chaos. Youth, meet your graying self.

"Pulitzer Winner," always sounds promising so, I ordered a copy. The author is a very gifted writer - loved his metaphors & he expanded my lexicon. Perhaps, had I been enticed to read the mere 261 paperback pages, from cover to cover, I would have had an "enhanced experience," but this novel was not a "page turner" read for me.

Just a wonderfully funny look at the indignities of middle age, career regrets and a midlife crisis. But it does so in such an honest, insightful and melancholy way that it is a mirror for the lives we lead. I’ve read and been moved by tragedy so often in literature, it’s nice to laugh my way through a book and cry in a good way. This won the Pulitzer, so I’m not breaking new ground here, but I cannot recommend this highly enough.

Disappointed...Frustrated...I thought Less was funny ...it is not. I thought Less was the story of a writer...it is the story of a gay writer who jumps from conquest to conquest...I definitely do not recommend Less.

At times I thought, “there is no there there...” And other times I thought, “what a wonderful journey...” In the end, we both happily arrived. And through it all, I was treated to beautiful writing! So five stars for Arthur Less!

Clever, hugely entertaining, funny, thoughtful. Greer's a writer's writer, but this book should appeal to everyone. Fast-paced and ruminative at times, hilarious and resonant, you'll fall in love with hapless Less and happily follow him (as does the unnamed-until-the-very-end narrator) anywhere.