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Bookslut
I thought it was great. I've read almost all of the Pulitzers, and this is one of my favorites. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
Carol
I am finding "Less" to be exactly as titled. Have to abandon, which I hate to do.
Robert Blumenthal
Obviously, one reason it won the Pulitzer is that you were not on the voting committee. I think the writing was very good in this book--clever, but not too clever. IMHO it had a level of sophistication above most novels written today.
Pamela
It's a comedic book and those are hard to like for lots of people. Tragedy is easier to write and have people love. I loved it and found such joy in it, but that is a harder feeling to spread. Which is a sad commentary on the world.
Jean
Good question. I finished the book and still wonder how it won the Pulitzer. See my review.
Alisa
An earlier commenter said it best - different strokes. After the a slow start, Mr. Greer's novel picked up steam and found its stride, cruising toward the ending. There were several places where I laughed out loud. I thought the writing was lovely and found myself rooting for Arthur Less.
Tracey
I picked it up on a long plane trip and finished it overnight. I truly enjoyed it. Found it touching and funny. But I still can't believe it won a Pulitzer. I kept thinking that maybe I am too old and have read too much. It is quite a light weight book.
Sophia
What? Holy moly I couldn't get enough of it. I count it as one of the best books I've ever read...
Patricia
This man, Arthur Less, is the kind of modest, funny person I would love to have as a friend. He is basically decent, and has a great eye for detail. The translations of his German conversations had me rocking with laughter, as did his wry description of his happy childhood and his father's book about how to raise a "straight" child. This book took me inside a perspective I haven't had before, and increased my appreciation and understanding of another person's reality.
Sylvia
The Pulitzer is not a high brow prize, or so says my professor. I think this won because comedy is hard and underappreciated. The author said he wanted to write a serious novel about looking for love and aging, but decided satire was the best way to convey the heartache. I'm so glad he did.
Patricia
I can see how lots of people might feel the same as you, but I loved it. I found it hilarious and tragic and thought-provoking. The writing was superb. Forgive me, but I think writing quality social comedy is extraordinarily difficult, and few succeed. There is a reason Jane Austen stands out as one of the few great reads in classic literature that has a happy ending.
Lara
I'm fascinated by the sheer variety of answers to this question. You know what this teaches me? Aspiring writers should never trust the feedback they get from their peers in writing workshops. What if Andrew Sean Greer had listened to a few of these people? One woman's trash is literally another woman's Pulitzer.
Lisa
I grudgingly liked it but did wonder how it won the Pulitzer too. I think he is a brilliant writer, there were some sentences that left me breathless. That was enough to carry me through the book. I thought the book lacked heart, though, and the protagonist seemed like more of a cartoon character than an actual person.
Cecelia
Agreed! This was so boring and awful. If I was not reading it for a bookclub I would have stopped after the first few chapters. Painful.
Jacqueline Sorokin
Best metaphors, i liked it a lot. One of those books that you don't quite realise how clever it is until the end.
Seth
I usually find prize winners to be plodding and uninteresting - but found Less to be an exception to the rule. I really enjoyed it.
Rachel
wondering the same thing... I'm about 1/4 of the way through and really hoping things get interesting soon...
Lola
This is an interesting piece by a Pulitzer Prize juror from the 2012 season when they didn't award the prize for fiction: https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-...
The Sellout didn't win the Pulitzer-it won the Booker and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction.
The Sellout didn't win the Pulitzer-it won the Booker and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction.
Anne
Different strokes for sure. I found this book delightful.
Tanya Pupina
The author named himself a magniloquent spoony. My view on the writers talent is the same like his.
Nathan Johnston
To me that's the point; you're supposed to find him uninteresting and irritating. Indeed, as the book goes on he becomes an undeniable fool; his protagonist in Swift is his foil in this regard. However, this fool redeems himself bit by bit.
As for those who suggest the Pulitzer win was about identity politics, this, again, misses the point as seen in other characters' skewering of his novel's protagonist's identity.
As for those who suggest the Pulitzer win was about identity politics, this, again, misses the point as seen in other characters' skewering of his novel's protagonist's identity.
Fff Mmm
Comedic fiction that I find funny is hard to find, the last book that made me smile out loud was Jane Smiley's "Moo". I like that at one level this is just a simple story of a guy trying to outrun his life but if you dig a little deeper there is a fair amount of social commentary hidden in the main character's obsessive self refection, which is a neat trick when you think of it.
Pam
I thought the main character was a Mary Sue. He is just too wonderful but does not know it. Change the main character to a woman. Do you think it would still of won a Pulitzer? Travel porn is the best that could be said of it.
Paula Hagar
I'm as likely to hate a Pulitzer winner as to like one, and your question is how I felt when the awful "Welcome to the Good Squad" won a few years ago. Who knows how the Pulitzer winners (or any book award winners) are chosen, but I'm glad this one was. I absolutely loved this book from start to finish. It's rare that something so subtle has me rolling on the floor with laughter, as well as shedding a few tears.
Shuly
I was most interested in character versus plot--it's definitely more of a character study, and the writing is superb. But as with any book, not all readers will love it because we all have such unique tastes (which is a good thing in the end). I'm only halfway through, but I love going back to it any chance I get.
Jeanne
Every once in a while they pick a clunker like I personally could not stand Olive Kitteridge and thought they only picked it because it was written by a woman. Seriously. And I think they were happy to have a book about gay culture that was good. And it is a good book. It is just not a great book.
Joan
Right? To me it was blah, blah, gross, blah, gross...
Kd
I am stunned this won a Pulitzer. The writing did not feel locked in, it read like a class assignment yet to be turned in. There were some good moments more than 1/2 way through etc. Would I have had a bad a time if this had not won a Pulitzer? I expected more..
Denisa Parete
I gave up at page 102 - soooo dull and boring - could not continue reading
Marina L Reed
I asked myself the same question at first, but there is a diamond in the rough here and I believe that is the answer to your question.
Sue Trotter
Amazing, readers’ different experiences. To me, the prose was beautiful, the humor sly, the sentiments tender. And the subject - reaching middle age when so few of one’s peers made it that far (1980’s AIDS) - was something I’ve never seen so well described in a novel.
Ellen Hawkins
I realize this is an old thread, but I just finished reading this book and I have been asking myself the same question. Lol! Here's my take: it is a comedy and a love story, yes, but it's also a book about writing. The main character is a writer living in a writer's world and so I assume the members of the Pulitzer committee probably just ate that up. The book is self-referencial in that the story that Arthur is writing sounds a lot like the book we are reading and there are multiple mentions of literary prizes including the Pulitzer itself in the text. Again, I'm sure this is something that really appealed to the prize committee (oh! It's so meta!). It's much like how the film Lalaland was a movie that appealed to people in the film industry and won best picture even though it was not the best film that year imo. 'Less' isn't a terrible book (again imo) but I am scratching my head as to why it won the Pulitzer when it reads much like any other chick lit novel out there.
Amrit J
Pulitzer is awarded by the US. He is an American author. That could be one of the factors. In my review I had mentioned Toole. I can't fathom a Universe, where this passable atrocity has been awarded the same pedestal as something as good and artistic as a Confederacy of Dunces. I did find some other fellow readers finding this book humourous, some even saying that they laughed out loud, literally. I couldn't find a passage that made me even smile. Maybe that one bit where others got involved in finding Less's ring. But by and large the book was a droning, more than a pleasure, which you don't expect from a Pulitzer.
Marie Tjernlund
I completely agree - it's a snoozer. Just finished it myself and wrote a review to the same. Was it a slow year for Pulitzer prizes?
Thara
I am left scratching my head. I can't figure out what was so compelling that it got the Pulitzer. It seems as if the reviews are pretty evenly divided.
Antonia
I'm also really struggling with this book - I stopped around 30% and I'm not sure whether to pick it up and try it again.
Marcy
I loved it. So funny. And I thought it was very well-written. I agree - different strokes!
Krishna Tummeti
I like to read both knowing the premise. Picked this one and I couldn't read past few pages. Why and how can this win Pulitzer?
After hearing the premise on a YouTube review, this sounds even terrible. Everyone's taste is different, I guess. Anyway, this one is not at all for me.
After hearing the premise on a YouTube review, this sounds even terrible. Everyone's taste is different, I guess. Anyway, this one is not at all for me.
Dan Connolly
I agree. It had a few highlights and a couple laughs but I just don't see it.
One thing that certainly didn't hurt is that it was about an author and name-dropped Pulitzer a few times. Just like La La Land and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood cleaned up at the Oscars, writers love books about writers.
I can think of another thing that might have helped.
One thing that certainly didn't hurt is that it was about an author and name-dropped Pulitzer a few times. Just like La La Land and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood cleaned up at the Oscars, writers love books about writers.
I can think of another thing that might have helped.
Joe
@Robert Irish: I find your comment amusingly ironic considering Arthur's failed novel was about, to quote: "A white middle-aged American man walking around with his white middle-aged American sorrows".
I disagree with you about identity politics being behind the win and totally agree with Sam's comment. Frankly, I think that phrase is bandied about with abandon all to often. to me, it sounds like you're saying there's something wrong with awarding a book showcasing a gay or black point of view.
However, I am on board with many others questioning how this won the Pulitzer Prize.
I disagree with you about identity politics being behind the win and totally agree with Sam's comment. Frankly, I think that phrase is bandied about with abandon all to often. to me, it sounds like you're saying there's something wrong with awarding a book showcasing a gay or black point of view.
However, I am on board with many others questioning how this won the Pulitzer Prize.
Mái Medina
I'm halfway this book and I'm wondering the same thing!
Marc
I loved it but I get it. Not everyone does.
Zachary Polendo
That's the whole point.
Kristýna146
I like this book. Less is very well written and funny novel. Probably one of the best I´ve read this year. Really enjoyed Greer´s writing style.
Mj Pramik
It's not very "comic". I can hardly finish it. Main character garners no empathy. Who cares!
James Tugend
Dawn Powell's review of another book in The New Yorker (Dec 3, 2018) applies:"Each page is squirming with sensitivity every line, no matter how well disguised the heroine is coyly reveals her exquisite taste, her delicate charm."
Who cares? You could say the same about Nero. The ultimate expression of our society's degeneration. One can praise femininity without negating mankind. As the author said, she hates anything with a plot.
Who cares? You could say the same about Nero. The ultimate expression of our society's degeneration. One can praise femininity without negating mankind. As the author said, she hates anything with a plot.
Nancy Wright
I wondered the same thing as I read it. Couldn't wait to finish it.
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Dec 19, 2018 10:11PM · flag
Jan 12, 2021 07:44AM · flag