ProseWise

Less

by Andrew Sean Greer, 2017 · 280 pages

Reading this book feels like being gently escorted around the world by a narrator who adores its hapless hero even while laughing at him. The prose is playful and lightly ironic, full of elegant turns of phrase, and the mood stays buoyant even as melancholy and self-doubt ripple underneath. It is a quick, charming read that rewards attention to its sly narrative voice.

literary fiction · whimsical · bittersweet · wry

What Less feels like to read

• Page-turner: 55%
• Darkness: 25%
• Emotional intensity: 45%
• Humor: 75%
• Romance: 55%
• Complexity: 35%

Reading age: 16+ (adult)

Spice: 1 out of 5. mostly closed door, a few mild romantic moments

Less tropes

• journey of self discovery
• fish out of water
• midlife crisis narrative
• will they won't they

Books like Less

• Major Pettigrew's last stand by Helen Simonson: Similarly wry, warm-hearted tone about an aging protagonist navigating love and self-discovery.
• A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles: Shares a warm, erudite narrative voice that finds charm and humor in a man's constrained or wandering circumstances.
• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce: A gentle, humor-laced journey narrative that doubles as an emotional reckoning with the past.
• Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout: Similar quiet, reflective tone about a flawed protagonist taking emotional stock of their life.