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Jenny (Reading Envy)'s Reviews > Less
Less (Arthur Less, #1)
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I really forced my way through this one and wouldn't have except that it won the Pulitzer Prize. I should have followed my instincts.
I ended up feeling like the author came up with the joke at the end first, and couldn't let it go, and backtracked as a thought experiment to see if he could write a novel around that joke, and that is why we all ended up reading it in 2018.
A few moments made me chuckle, closer to how I react to British humor, but I'm perplexed as to the award. Perhaps the judges resonated with the mediocre career of the writer named Less.
I ended up feeling like the author came up with the joke at the end first, and couldn't let it go, and backtracked as a thought experiment to see if he could write a novel around that joke, and that is why we all ended up reading it in 2018.
A few moments made me chuckle, closer to how I react to British humor, but I'm perplexed as to the award. Perhaps the judges resonated with the mediocre career of the writer named Less.
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rated it 3 stars
Mar 01, 2019 08:51PM
Exactly!
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One book club I'm in read it and most thought it was brilliant due to the ending. I couldn't get past 15%. I just cared less. I think I'm right to have abandoned it.
Yip. I gave up on it too, despite being in the process of reading all the Pulitzer winners. No idea why this won, besides America needing something light in a time which is rather dark.
I don’t think it’s Pulitzer Prize winning but I thought it was light hearted entertainment. I know how people rate don’t like rating things in terms of genre but for me there is clear delineations. I enjoyed it as a funny light romp and my rating reflects that but this isn’t “literary” it’s well written entertainment. Pulitzer Prize is kind of wonky. It’s more mass appeal of late. I find booker prize is more reflective in terms of qualit of prose, stylistic choice, character development and literary inventiveness.
Jenny, my initial instinct was to not read this. Glad your reinforced that !
Missed this one, which sounds like a good idea.
Found this line in another review: "as Less enters new situations, the memories of his past create a certain consistency—for him and the reader—the emotional equivalent of eating at McDonald’s on the Champs-Élysées."
Bryan wrote: "Found this line in another review: "as Less enters new situations, the memories of his past create a certain consistency—for him and the reader—the emotional equivalent of eating at McDonald’s on t..."Ha! Yes by his third city I was in a heavy skim.
That’s exactly how I felt! And wondered what was wrong with me that I thought it was a meh read for a Pulitzer winner. I’m definitely in the minority with my bookie friends, glad there are others who felt the same!
I didn't like this one either...
Sydney wrote: "One book club I'm in read it and most thought it was brilliant due to the ending. I couldn't get past 15%. I just cared less. I think I'm right to have abandoned it.""Brilliant due to the ending..." I think this was what drove the author forward to. HA.
Danny wrote: "Yip. I gave up on it too, despite being in the process of reading all the Pulitzer winners. No idea why this won, besides America needing something light in a time which is rather dark."I can definitely see that compulsion but was this the only light book published that year? ;)
Don wrote: "I don’t think it’s Pulitzer Prize winning but I thought it was light hearted entertainment. I know how people rate don’t like rating things in terms of genre but for me there is clear delineations...."I don't mind a light-hearted read, I'm even up for one winning an award. But this one also grew repetitive. It all seemed (to me) to be in service to the ending.
Chris wrote: "That’s exactly how I felt! And wondered what was wrong with me that I thought it was a meh read for a Pulitzer winner. I’m definitely in the minority with my bookie friends, glad there are others w..."Well Chris, I want you to know you can always have a different opinion about a book. It doesn't mean you "missed something"... I sometimes feel with award winners many readers can't read critically, because they're so sure the judges/critics know more or are smarter than them. I don't worry too much about that.
I'm just encountering the book for the first time, but I wonder about how divided readers are. Some love, some hate - what makes the difference?
I read this not long after I read Pnin, by Nabokov (which is not to suggest my taste is highbrow--it was my first of Nabokov's novels I've ever read): and I found that Less seemed, in comparison, like a slight homage, with a writer/academic character, each chapter sort a little short story, the wry, removed voice, etc., but Less was also hindered by what seemed to be the recurring theme of all of Andrew Sean Greer's books, which is unrequited/no wait, it's not! love. I found the ending cloying.
Brett wrote: "I read this not long after I read Pnin, by Nabokov (which is not to suggest my taste is highbrow--it was my first of Nabokov's novels I've ever read): and I found that Less seemed, in comparison, l..."The stakes weren't very high to be sure.
I have yet to read Nabokov but maybe this year!
Brett wrote: "I read this not long after I read Pnin..."Brutal.
Michael wrote: "Great review! The Pulitzer confuses me as well - the writing was solid, but nothing special? It also felt so repetitive for such a short novel."Yes there was a lot of rinse repeat in it.
Your review helped me put it down at 30% rather than continue to waste my precious reading time. Thanks for keeping it real and honest, Jenny!
