Less: A Novel by Andrew Sean Greer

Because, despite all these mishaps, missteps, misunderstandings and mistakes, Less is, above all, a love story. 

Synopsis - 

Who says you can't run away from your problems? You are a failed novelist about to turn fifty. A wedding invitation arrives in the mail: your boyfriend of the past nine years is engaged to someone else. You can't say yes--it would be too awkward--and you can't say no--it would look like defeat. On your desk are a series of invitations to half-baked literary events around the world.

QUESTION: How do you arrange to skip town?
ANSWER: You accept them all.

What would possibly go wrong? Arthur Less will almost fall in love in Paris, almost fall to his death in Berlin, barely escape to a Moroccan ski chalet from a Saharan sandstorm, accidentally book himself as the (only) writer-in-residence at a Christian Retreat Center in Southern India, and encounter, on a desert island in the Arabian Sea, the last person on Earth he wants to face. Somewhere in there: he will turn fifty. Through it all, there is his first love. And there is his last.

Review - 

I am glad I did not know this book had won a Pulitzer Prize before I read it ( or that it was also a national bestseller).  I find knowing too much about a book ahead of time sets me up with expectations that taint my experience reading it.  I dove into LESS with no expectations or even any idea what it was about, and that was absolutely the best choice I could have made. It was a fun and unexpected read.

Love, laughter and life's little adventures with Andrew Sean Greer 

Arthur Less is a wonderful anti-hero.  He lacks confidence, and doesn't see himself clearly.  He considers himself a writer of only moderate ability - an assumption reinforced when his publisher rejects his new manuscript - and usually assumes the worst in any situation.  He expects to be ignored or treated as a second best.  He takes this attitude with him when he flees on a globe-trotting trip guided and financed by the many appearance invitations he has received. His goal? To avoid attending the wedding of a former partner. 

His travel experiences border on the weird.  His journey is fraught with snags, surprises, and road bumps. There is something oh so human about Less and his journey. I can relate to his feelings self-doubt and the Murphy’s Law events. How many times have each of us felt the universe was having a great laugh at our expense? Yet the story isn't dark. While we follow Less, there is an un-named narrator that intriguingly pops up here and there.  Who is it?  There are hints along the way, but it is only in the end we find out.  

An excellent read as well as a great commentary on the human (and gay) experience offered with humor and a shrug. I often found myself smiling. And I noticed there is a book two, but I haven't checked it out yet. 

Buy the Book:  Amazon US ~ Amazon CA

Meet the Author - 

Andrew Sean Greer is the author of eight works of fiction, including the bestsellers Less and its companion Less Is Lost. Greer has taught at a number of universities, including Stanford and the Iowa Writers Workshop, been a TODAY show pick, a New York Public Library Cullman Center Fellow, a judge for the National Book Award, and a winner of the California Book Award and the New York Public Library Young Lions Award. He is the recipient of a NEA grant, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Greer currently lives in San Francisco and Venice, Italy. His latest novel, inspired by his life in Italy, is titled Villa Coco. It was just released in June 2026.