Less is repeatedly described as a novel about a middle-aged gay writer running away from his problems. Unfortunately, not in a particularly clever or interesting way–and by the end of the book, it’s gone from being naively unnecessary and reactionary to being actively terrible. A sequel that seems pretty specifically designed to confront the less nice things people say about Less. The reason this is particularly interesting is that Andrew Sean Greer could have left all that alone and explored new territory with his next book, but instead he is releasing a sequel named Less Is Lost on September 20, 2022. But things get complicated with Less for me because, well, I have some problems with the book itself. In fact, that was the focus of my deep dive on Less because I think it’s worth expanding the definition of what books qualify as great. That could have been the end of it, but a comedy winning a major award always opens up the door for criticism from people who think only serious literature should win prizes. When Andrew Sean Greer published Less, a comedic look at a gay writer traveling the world to avoid his problems, it was a surprise hit–going on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (I have a full deep dive on that here).
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