Perth’s Queer Book Club has selected Less by Andrew Sean Greer as their book to read in March.
The novel was first published in 2017 and won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for literature, and in 2019 it won the Australian Book industry Award for International Book of the Year.
It tells the story of Arthur Less, a failed novelist who is about to turn fifty. A wedding invitation arrives in the post: it’s from an ex-boyfriend of nine years who is engaged to marry someone else. Arthur can’t say yes- it would look 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.
The book is described as a novel about mishaps, misunderstandings and the depth of the human heart. The New York Times hailed it as “inspired, lyrical” and “ingenious”, the novel spent 45 weeks on their bestseller list. Author Armistead Maupin who wrote the popular Tales of the City series, described Less as “funny, piquant and bittersweet”.
Andrew Sean Greer has authored five novels and a collection of short stories. His previous works include The Path of Minor Planets (2001), The Confession of Max Tivoli (2004), The Story of a Marriage (2008) and The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells (2013), Less is his most recent work.
If you’re after a copy of the book head to Crow Books in Victoria Park and show them your a member of the Queer Book Club and you can get a 10% discount.
The Queer Book Club is a project from GRAI: Gay Rights in Ageing. The book club will meeting up on Wednesday 31st March to discuss the novel, find all the details here.
OIP Staff
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