Less (Greer) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Less is the funniest, smartest and most humane novel I've read since Tom Rachman's 2010 debut, The Imperfectionists.… Greer writes sentences of arresting lyricism and beauty. His metaphors come at you like fireflies.…  Like Arthur, Andrew Sean Greer's Less is excellent company. It's no less than bedazzling, bewitching and be-wonderful.
Chrstopher Buckley - New York Times Book Review


Greer is an exceptionally lovely writer, capable of mingling humor with sharp poignancy.… Brilliantly funny.… Greer's narration, so elegantly laced with wit, cradles the story of a man who loses everything: his lover, his suitcase, his beard, his dignity.
Ron Charles, Washington Post


Greer's novel is philosophical, poignant, funny and wise, filled with unexpected turns.… Although Greer is gifted and subtle in comic moments, he's just as adept at ruminating on the deeper stuff. His protagonist grapples with aging, loneliness, creativity, grief, self-pity and more.
San Francisco Chronicle


Greer, the author of wonderful, heartfelt novels including The Confessions of Max Tivoli, The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells and The Story of a Marriage, shows he has another powerful weapon in his arsenal: comedy. And who doesn't need a laugh right about now?
Miami Herald


Greer elevates Less' picaresque journey into a wise and witty novel. This is no Eat, Pray Love story of touristic uplift, but rather a grand travelogue of foibles, humiliations and self-deprecation, ending in joy, and a dollop of self-knowledge.
National Book Review


(Starred review.) Greer … writes beautifully, but his occasionally Faulknerian sentences are unnecessary. He is entirely successful, though, in the authorial sleights of hand that… [ results] at the end in a wonderful surprise.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) [A] hilarious and touching novel.… Greer is both clever and compassionate…and while the book focuses on gay men and their relationships, the search for love and meaning is universal. —James Coan, SUNY at Oneonta Lib.
Library Journal


Dressed in his trademark blue suit, Less…discovers something new and fragile about the passing of time, about the coming and going of love, and what it means to be the fool of your own narrative. It's nothing less than wonderful.
BookPage


(Starred review.) Less is perhaps Greer's finest yet.… A comic yet moving picture of an American abroad.… Less is a wondrous achievement, deserving an even larger audience than Greer's bestselling The Confessions of Max Tivoli
Booklist


Facing his erstwhile boyfriend's wedding to another man, his 50th birthday, and his publisher's rejection of his latest manuscript, a miserable midlist novelist heads for the airport.… Nonstop puns on the character's surname aside, this is a very funny and occasionally wise book.
Kirkus Reviews