Less by Andrew Sean GreerMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Less won lots of prizes and is clearly a work that many people appreciate. It's a good case in point of the fact that I am not one of those people, because I thought it was largely boring, and the main character uninteresting.
Less follows middle-aged author Arthur Less as he jets around the world avoiding reminders of twin impending disasters: his ex-partner's marriage and turning 50. He spends a lot of time feeling out of place, unsure of himself, nostalgic for a simpler past, and unable to write. Eventually he sorts out his feelings (somewhat) and manages to write again (but not finish his novel) and finds resolution for his romantic woes (but not on purpose). This is not a book with an exciting, gripping plot.
Arthur is gay. There were maybe one or two places where this actually mattered, as far as I can tell, most notably one bit where one of his books is rejected because it deals only with a white gay man instead of something more exotic. Other than that, you could swap the gender of a few characters and maybe a few locations to make this a straight novel and it would read very much the same. Arthur has no struggles over being gay, there's no discrimination, practically everyone he meets is either also gay or could care less. Which is fine, something of an ideal world in fact, but it begs the question of why write a novel about it? Ideal isn't interesting.
Romantic relationships seem to define Arthur's self-image. He's with an older partner in a long-term but still somewhat casual relationship; that ends and he finds a younger partner to do basically the same thing in mirror image; then that ends and he's alone and pathetic. Completely alien to my mindset, putting this kind of weight on romance and yet not actually pursuing a solid lasting relationship. To me, it makes Arthur simply look like someone unable to decide what he really wants out of life...not uncommon, but not interesting enough to base a novel on. This being a romantic novel, there is an eventual resolution to Arthur's love woes...but it fell flat with me, as it basically falls into his lap, through no fault of his own.
The writing style of Greer reminds me of when I was reading classics in school. Some genuinely funny or moving prose, surrounded by a whole lot of flowery language meant to convey characters' mindsets that goes off in all directions and is either uninteresting or confusing. So I can see why the literary critics loved it, but it is definitely not to my taste.
There are obviously lots of people who enjoyed Less, most notably a Pulitzer committee. However, I am not one of them.
