Less is a book I’ve had on my shelf for a while, but kept putting off reading. Most LGBTQ+ books I have read are centered around high school aged kids or young adults, and at the age of 23, this is starting to grow old. It hurts me to say this because as I get older, I feel further and further removed from these young characters and their stories. Granted, 23 is still young, but I can feel time moving fast around me, and it won’t be long before I am turning 50 like Arthur Less (if I make it to 50).
I feel scared reading LGBTQ+ books featuring older characters because I still want to connect and experience things like the younger LGBTQ+ characters. Honestly, I think my issue is the fact that I never got to have any of these experiences in my youth. I feel like I missed out on everything, and despite my age increasing, I’m not ready to move on. I never got to have a high school romance or a cute gay awakening moment, so I enjoy reading about them, even though with every passing year it stings a little more. This is a roadblock I know many LGBTQ+ individuals have to deal with. It isn’t fair but it’s just part of life. The closest I’ll ever get to a happy LGBTQ+ childhood is through these books. That’s why watching Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper was like a double-edged sword! It was so unbelievably cute and adorable, and it hurt so much!
Less is about pretty much everything I just described, making it the book of my worst nightmares, or so you would think. But like most things we fear, it was not as traumatizing as I had imagined. Less follows the soon-to-be 50-year-old author, Arthur Less, on his journey to escape his past and figure out his future. The story is told by a narrator who won’t be identified until the very end of the book, and jumps back and forth from Less’ current struggles to memories of his past.
Summary:
Arthur Less is just beginning his journey around the world to avoid going to his ex-lover’s wedding. He will start by interviewing another author at an event before flying to Mexico. His trip starts off with disaster as the author he is to be interviewing gets food poisoning. Less is left to reflect on how he has ended up in this situation in the first place. From what we know at this point, Arthur is a meek and mild-mannered gay author. He has just been “dumped” essentially, by Freddie, the son of his his rival, Carlos. They had been sleeping together for 15 years, but now Freddie is marrying another man. Less then accepts any invitations he can find to get out of the country and away from the wedding threatening to crush him, and the fact that his agent has declined to publish his upcoming novel.
Next, Arthur arrives in Mexico, where he is to be speaking about his former former lover, poet Robert Brownburn, with Robert’s ex-wife Marian. Arthur is extremely nervous because he has not spoken to or seen Marian since he began having an affair with her husband. Marian’s part in the program was a total surprise to Arthur. He travels around Mexico in the few days leading up to the event, in which he recalls memories of his time with Robert. Right before the event, Arthur is informed that Marian (now 80) has had a fall and broken her hip, leaving her unable to attend. She leaves a message to Arthur sending her love.
Next, Arthur travels to Italy, where his third novel is in the running for a prize he does not think he will win. He stays in a beautiful hotel and gets to meet several other authors in the running, who all have good work published. During the long ceremony, Arthur begins to zone out, only to be brought back to reality to find that he has won the prize. He recalls Robert telling him never to win an award for his books, because once you win, your writing career is over.
After winning his award, Arthur flies to Berlin to teach a five-week course at a university. Although he knows quite a bit of German, Arthur makes many grammatical mistakes. The students refer to him as “Peter Pan” because he seems like an adult who has not grown up. During his time in Berlin, Arthur takes a lover, Bastian, who helps him keep his mind off Freddie’s upcoming wedding. Also, very oddly, people start to fall ill around Arthur, and he begins to blame himself. First it is Bastian, then his teaching assistant and students, and finally a girl at a club where he is giving a reading. After the five weeks are up, Arthur must leave Bastian to fly to Morocco.
While at a stop in Paris, Less volunteers to take a later flight after his gets overbooked. He calls a friend and is invited to a dinner party. At the party, Arthur sees another author he has spoken to before. This author, already drunk, tells Arthur that he is a bad gay for how he writes his books. He explains that their job as gay authors is to share the beautiful parts of their world (the gay world) with readers. Arthur does not do this to others standards because his books tend to be more melancholy. Arthur is very surprised and caught off guard by this criticism. Arthur is about to leave the party when he meets Javier, an intelligent man in a loveless marriage. They flirt and have deep conversations before Arthur must leave to catch his flight. They both know it is unlikely they will see each other again, and after sharing a kiss, Arthur considers staying in Paris a little longer. But he doesn’t.
After arriving in Morocco, Arthur joins the birthday party group of a woman named Zohra whom he has never met. There was a vacancy in her party, and their mutual friend Lewis suggested inviting Arthur, who turns 50 the day after Zohra. While on their journey, Lewis informs Arthur that he and his husband of 20 years are getting a divorce. Arthur is stunned and asks what went wrong, but Lewis says that nothing went wrong. They had a very happy and successful 20 years together and it was just time to move on. They would rather end it on a good note rather than risk a future fallout. The birthday party begins with a large group, but as they ride camels through the desert, drink, and party, their group grows smaller. People start to get sick from the weather or drinking. Eventually it is just Arthur and Zohra left. When a sandstorm blocks their path, they are taken to a resort to wait out the storm. After getting incredibly drunk, Zohra goes to sleep, and Arthur thinks he will spend his birthday alone. The tour guide, Mohammed, is there to keep Arthur company by discussing his own dream of becoming a writer.
When the celebrations are over, Arthur flies to India, where he is meant to work on his next book. He stays at a camp that is (unknown to him beforehand) a Christian retreat. He tries his best to write, but the camp is too loud and distracting to get any work done. Once, when the power goes out, Arthur steps on his sewing needle and must get it surgically removed. His rival, Carlos (who suggested he go to India), lets him stay in a resort for the remainder of his trip. Arthur successfully rewrites his novel while recovering. On his final day in India, Carlos and Arthur boat out to an island, and Carlos tells Arthur that he (Arthur) has had the best life of anyone he knows. Arthur is not sure how Carlos has come to this conclusion, but he doesn’t say anything.
His final stop before going home is Japan, where he agreed to write a review of the local cuisine. His luggage is lost during the trip, and he arrives in Japan too early to see the beautiful cherry blossoms. Shortly after arriving, Arthur learns that Robert has had a stroke. He sets up a video call with Robert and Marian and tells them he will come see them immediately. Robert, under the impression that Arthur and Freddie got married and are on their honeymoon, vehemently opposes this. As Arthur finishes his article on Japanese cuisine, he reflects on how much he wishes Freddie had stayed with him, and how he feels his life has never been serious or had a genuine purpose. Coincidentally, Freddie is on his honeymoon in Tahiti regretting his decision to leave Arthur. When Arthur returns home to California, Freddie, revealed as the book’s narrator, is sitting on his doorstep waiting for him.
Thoughts:
Less is a book that gives you a different perspective of the LGBTQ+ community and what it would be like to live as a gay man, for me at least. Like I mentioned in the beginning, most of the books I have read have been about young adults, I feel more connected to those characters as they come from my generation or one generation removed. Arthur is a 50 year old man who has lived in a different time, so his experiences are completely new to me. It is like seeing a side of my own community that has previously been hidden. In a world where queer history and experiences is often neglected or erased, I think it is important to seek out this knowledge on our own, from authors like Greer. For many it can seem like we are the first generation of queer individuals and must figure things out on our own, and to the extent of growing up in the 21st century with all its changes, this is true, but we are not the first generation of queer folk. We can learn so much from those in previous generations, as I’m sure they can learn something from us.
There were two moments in particular that got my attention in Less, the first being when Arthur was told he is a bad gay for how he writes his books. As I understood it, the author is telling Arthur that to be a good gay you must write happy, positive stories about your experience and the LGBTQ+ world. I strongly disagree with this and would argue that supporting this line of thought makes the other author the bad gay. Of course it is important to highlight the love and joy within the LGBTQ+ community, but it would be a disservice to many throughout history to neglect the pain and suffering our community has undergone. Not only have we undergone our own forms of persecution and erasure, but we also deal with situations and daily struggles that heterosexual people do! So claiming through your writing that everything is always positive and perfect is just wrong! This might also lead LGBTQ+ individuals to believe there is something wrong with them for not being or having experienced anything but positivity in their lives. This line of thought could lead to further hurt.
The other instance was when Lewis explained why he and his partner of 20 years are getting a divorce. This concept of quitting something while it’s good (and quitting might be the wrong word for it) is something that is pretty foreign to me and what I’ve seen growing up. Normally, when marriage is involved, things slowly get bitter until a divorce is inevitable, or worse, a divorce never happens and things are still miserable. That once loving relationship is now gone and the memories are sort of spoiled and that’s a real shame. Now, I don’t know if I could call something quits if it was still good, but I think that would save a lot of pain and heartache. You really have to have a different mindset to do something like that; you have to be open with your partner and in tune with your relationship and surroundings. Regrettably, I don’t have many good examples of this in my life, which is probably why this wowed me so much.
If you dive into this deeper (I won’t go into too much detail, don’t worry), you can trace it back to basic human behavior based on genetics and environmental factors, which is how our behaviors are shaped. While it is possible and preferable to some, monogamy is not the only way humans operate, nor is it the preferred way for humans to operate. Culturally and socially, monogamy is the standard, and there is nothing wrong with monogamous relationships, but there is nothing wrong with polyamory or having multiple partners over your lifetime as long as they are all consensual. I think if this was more widely accepted, situations like Lewis’s would become more common. Maybe a society where we are not forced to stay in a loveless or potentially harmful relationship would lead to a happier population. Having said all this, I think I would prefer a monogamous relationship (although I have never tried anything else) but I think as a society we idolize that way too much.
There was a lot to think about while reading Less, and we could all stand to read a few more books like that. Until next time!
-Atlas
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