Less cover art

Less

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2018

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Less

By: Andrew Sean Greer
Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
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About this listen

Arthur Less is a failed novelist about to turn fifty. A wedding invitation arrives in the post: it is from an ex-boyfriend of nine years who is engaged to someone else. Arthur can't say yes - it would be too awkward; he can't say no - it would look like defeat. So, he begins to accept the invitations on his desk to half-baked literary events around the world.

From France to India, Germany to Japan, Arthur almost falls in love, almost falls to his death, and puts miles between him and the plight he refuses to face. Less is a novel about mishaps, misunderstandings and the depths of the human heart.

2018, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Winner

2019, Australian Book Industry Awards International Book of the Year, Long-listed

©2017 Andrew Sean Greer (P)2017 Little, Brown Book Group Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Heartfelt Funny Inspiring Witty

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Critic reviews

"Bedazzling, bewitching and be-wonderful." (New York Times)

"You will sob little tears of joy." (Nell Zink)

"A fast and rocketing read...a wonderful, wonderful book!" (Karen Joy Fowler)
All stars
Most relevant  
An extremely relatable story, tender and amusing well developed characters. Paints an incredibly vivid journey!

Incredible

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Oh how I fell in love with our hero. So imperfect. The misfit. The mobile mishap.

I was taken on a journey. Details so clear to transport without drowning you.

Charmingly written. So full of heart.

I loved it.

Touchingly Funny

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My advice ... listen, enjoy and fall in love with Arthur Less. Can’t recommend it highly enough.

FABULOUS!

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I struggled to get into the print copy, but it was very well narrated. An uplifting gay Odyssey

well narrated

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I loved this book, it was beautifully written and equally wonderfully narrated. My favourite book this year.

beautifully written story, wonderfully narrated

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My review headline might as well be for Arthur Less in the torn blue suit falling from the sky, frantically re-working his novel! I absolutely love this book and guess what? It's the first comic novel to win the Pulitzer Prize! This is such a beautifully and richly written book. I am writing this review while at the last 50 minutes of narration. I have paused it because like Arthur Less who took five years to read Proust, I just don't want it to end. I'm savoring every single line and Robert Petkoff is an excellent narrator. I will truly miss Arthur Less, just turned 50, in Osaka and about to return to San Francisco. Don't leave Less! I'm going to have to walk to the bookstore to order a hard copy of the novel, put it on my bookshelf and re-read it when I'm 49.

Less is wonderful, charming and full of humanity!

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I listen to this on a whim, and I’m so glad I did. It’s brilliantly beautiful.

Brilliant

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This works well as a story and kept me fully engaged throughout. Well written and well performed. I can understand its 4 star ratings because it will not appeal to everyone but I found it to be a clever little piece which understands aging without necessarily being about aging and yet being all about aging. Worth your time.

Really enjoyable

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I cant think what to write as a review that would actually be helpful here. This story is a mildly amusing character study about a hapless man travelling in wildly different countries (who really would go from mexico to germany to morocco to japan with the same few clothes and one after other.. ..) with the expected happy ending and thats all.
Also a fatal flaw - given that Arthur Less is supposed to be unlucky, accident prone etc. its a bit of a stretch to believe this when he is on an all expenses paid world trip, meets amazing people, wins a literary prize, is lauded wherever he goes, gets plenty of sex, is tall blonde handsome etc. He is hardly one of life’s losers.
Is this story worth spending a credit on ?
Doubtful.

yes and ?

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This novel is quite clever in that it intentionally makes you fall in love with the protagonist and find him completely frustrating at the same time. He bumbles through life, able to go and do whatever he pleases with every blessing in the world all the while complaining that his life is terrible and hard. Yet he is still somehow charming.

The writing is witty (I loved the turns of phrase 'Less-ian this and Less-ian that') and engaging, but for me the conclusion didn't quite pay off and sometimes it was hard to care about what happened to Less. However, overall I liked it quite a lot.

Engaging

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