Less by Andrew Sean Greer

Tuesday, June 23, 2020--San Antonio

Less by Andrew Sean Green is the story of a young gay writer known more for his good looks, his famous poet lover, and the quality of his first published novel than for anything else in his life.  It is set when Less is about to turn 50 and is embarking on an around-the-world trip hobbled together from fortunate opportunities since he is low on funds and his latest book has been rejected by his publisher who seems to be cutting ties with him. He looks back on his life with the realization that it has been far less than a successful one, career-wise or lover-wise, than he would have wished.  The author was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for this book.  In respect to that, the novel reinforces my experience, based on other Pulitzer winners I have read, that I have no idea what the criteria are for winning the prize since quality of writing seems often NOT to be a major factor.  I also was disappointed by something I often observe in novels and never appreciate; the author seemed to have collected lots of observations throughout life with the intent of working them into his writing and did so very often in this book whether they actually contributed significantly to the story or not.  Furthermore, there were times that his wording seemed to be chosen more for showing the reader what a witty or knowledgeable writer he is than for the purpose of adding to the story itself.  Due to these factors, there were times I almost quit the book.  But parts of it were very interesting and keep me going to the end.  As general literature, I would rate this book 3 stars out of 5.  As gay literature, since the category seldom has really high quality writing, I would boost it on up to 3 1/2 stars out of 5