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markcastaneda's review
5.0
**this is worth prefacing with saying that I really didn't think "Less" was very good, so I had low expectations coming into this collection, but just stumbled upon the collection in a used book store and figured I'd read it passively.
but therse are really just phenomenal short stories. Glancing over reviews, I think that there's a shared understanding that the final story, Come Live with Me and Be My Love, is easily the most beautiful and heartbreaking but also inspiring story of the entire collection. I also had a sinking suspicion that writing about a queer male relationship would be just another tragic HIV 80s story like so many others, but instead Greer transcends the fashionable and easy subject within queer literature and still writes something that hits hard and deep. incredible.
Blame it on my youth also took a unique experience and elevated it to a point of empathy where I was able to take a situation that I think I would never get myself into, and make it something deeply believable. Painted the main characters so artfully and hit that sorrow that isn't a deep punch but a bitter pit in the stomach.
Other honorable mentions: The art of eating was really something great, feels underappreciated and great character development and very unique. I also appreciated how eccentric Cannibal Kings, the opening story was. although his style is consistent it's such a curveball compared to the rest of the book. Lost Causes was just a fun read.
Strangely, How It Was For Me, the titular story, was easily my least favorite. huh.
but therse are really just phenomenal short stories. Glancing over reviews, I think that there's a shared understanding that the final story, Come Live with Me and Be My Love, is easily the most beautiful and heartbreaking but also inspiring story of the entire collection. I also had a sinking suspicion that writing about a queer male relationship would be just another tragic HIV 80s story like so many others, but instead Greer transcends the fashionable and easy subject within queer literature and still writes something that hits hard and deep. incredible.
Blame it on my youth also took a unique experience and elevated it to a point of empathy where I was able to take a situation that I think I would never get myself into, and make it something deeply believable. Painted the main characters so artfully and hit that sorrow that isn't a deep punch but a bitter pit in the stomach.
Other honorable mentions: The art of eating was really something great, feels underappreciated and great character development and very unique. I also appreciated how eccentric Cannibal Kings, the opening story was. although his style is consistent it's such a curveball compared to the rest of the book. Lost Causes was just a fun read.
Strangely, How It Was For Me, the titular story, was easily my least favorite. huh.
tady's review
5.0
i love this man. i love his writing. so much.
come live with me and be my love was incredible.
come live with me and be my love was incredible.
jaytak's review
4.0
Andrew Sean Greer examines age and beauty with the fascination that most authors reserve for queerness. And he writes about queerness with a normalcy that's verging on refreshingly mundane. The stories are mostly concerned with things that can change - youth, beauty, wealth - and so leaves alone (but not ignored) identities that can't. For me, this focus kept every story and character engaged and in motion.
I loved "Lost Causes," "Blame It on My Youth," and "Come Live with Me and Be My Love," the last of which feels like a particular triumph of the collection. It just encompasses all the best of the stories; sharply observed characters, emotive writing, and longing without tragedy.
I loved "Lost Causes," "Blame It on My Youth," and "Come Live with Me and Be My Love," the last of which feels like a particular triumph of the collection. It just encompasses all the best of the stories; sharply observed characters, emotive writing, and longing without tragedy.
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