Less

by Andrew Sean Greer

This book won the Pulitzer Prize, interesting as initial reviews were apparently not very good.

It is the story of a lonely gay author.  He receives an invitation to the wedding of a former lover, a young man.  He knows that he cannot possibly attend the wedding and to avoid doing so books several engagements around the world so that he can say he is not available.

One of the events has him interviewing another famous author, one has him in South America speaking about his life/rememberances of a famous poet he was in a relationship with years before.  Like him and the former lover he is currently trying to avoid, there was a large age gap between the main character and his poet lover.

He goes to an event in Germany where he is one of the authors nominated for a prize.

As he travels he bumbles along through various events and adventures, feeling very sorry for himself.  All the while he is remembering his time with his young lover and marking the days as the wedding date approaches.

He is trying to reconcile himself to being alone for the rest of his life, and has almost convinced himself he can do it.  He hears something went amiss at the weddingbut it is only when he returns home that he finds out the young lover has left his newly married husband and has decided he loves the main character and wants to live with him.

Throughout the book there is reference to the author's first book, a modern take on the Odyssey and also references to a second book on a Robinson Crusoe kind of theme which he hopes will be a success but keeps getting rejected.  He realizes rather than having a serious, admirable hero he needs to explore one who is less than perfect.

It was an okay read but I am surprised it was considered worthy of a Pulitzer Prize.  Maybe it just struck a nerve with people today... the idea of what is love, what is it worth, what does it take to be worthy, can one live without love in your life.