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ilianachloe's review
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
hannah_trang's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved this book, and it definitely takes one of my favorite books of the year. This story was simply a joy to read and is written with careful intention. Extremely touching, funny, and surpassed all of my expectations. 100% I’d read it again and would recommend it to anybody! 9.5/10.
Recommended by my local librarian, Susan. God bless you Susan.
Recommended by my local librarian, Susan. God bless you Susan.
greenek3's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
omniaelbanna's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Did not expect to like this story as much as I did.
haileypassmoree's review against another edition
2.0
1.5
no hate to this book. i feel like it had good intentions i just have no idea what they were. the writing was so hard to follow and i genuinely didn’t remember what i read after reading it, which is probably my fault. but it was also just hard to follow along with how the scenes moved and transitioned so much during a single chapter.
no hate to this book. i feel like it had good intentions i just have no idea what they were. the writing was so hard to follow and i genuinely didn’t remember what i read after reading it, which is probably my fault. but it was also just hard to follow along with how the scenes moved and transitioned so much during a single chapter.
daja57's review against another edition
4.0
Arthur Less is a not-terribly-successful gay novelist. One ex-boyfriend is a famous poet, another ex-boyfriend is Freddy, the son of the Carlos who has been a frenemy of Arthur's all these years. Invited to Freddy's wedding to another man, Arthur decides the only way to avoid accepting is to be out of the country so he strings together a series of minor literary offers into a world tour: an interview in New York, a lecture in Mexico, a prize event in Italy and so on. His experience are comic and tragic and most of all they are absurd (he is almost late to interview a more famous novelist because the clock in the hotel lobby isn't working and the publicist assumes Arthur is a woman; the novelist repeatedly vomits because of food poisoning etc).
It is a gentle, rambling picaresque with some poignant observations on life from the perspective of a gay man growing old without a partner and some moments which prompted a chuckle (which is rather more than most 'comic' novels elicit from me). It is sweet and kind and amusing but, as is the common fault of picaresques, there is little structure and no drive: it is difficult to see that we are going anywhere until the last section attempts, rather rapidly, to make sense of it all. Otherwise, the most interesting thing about the book is that it occasionally lapses into the narrator talking directly to the reader; the mystery of the narrator's identity is not revealed until the end.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2018
Perhaps a little superficial but cute and clever.
It is a gentle, rambling picaresque with some poignant observations on life from the perspective of a gay man growing old without a partner and some moments which prompted a chuckle (which is rather more than most 'comic' novels elicit from me). It is sweet and kind and amusing but, as is the common fault of picaresques, there is little structure and no drive: it is difficult to see that we are going anywhere until the last section attempts, rather rapidly, to make sense of it all. Otherwise, the most interesting thing about the book is that it occasionally lapses into the narrator talking directly to the reader; the mystery of the narrator's identity is not revealed until the end.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2018
Perhaps a little superficial but cute and clever.
congressbaby143's review against another edition
4.0
“Around the world his pity flies, its wingspan as wide as an albatross’s”
“I hadn’t known that I assumed he would wait there forever in that white bed below his window. I hadn’t known I needed him there — like a landmark, a pyramid shaped stone, or a cypress that we assume will never move so we can find our way home. And then… inevitably, one day it’s gone and we realize that we thought we were the only changing thing, the only variable in the world. That the objects and people in our lives are there for our pleasure like the playing pieces of a game and cannot move of their own accord. THAT THEY ARE HELD IN PLACE BY OUR NEED FOR THEM, BY OUR LOVE. How stupid.”
Couldn’t put it down.
“I hadn’t known that I assumed he would wait there forever in that white bed below his window. I hadn’t known I needed him there — like a landmark, a pyramid shaped stone, or a cypress that we assume will never move so we can find our way home. And then… inevitably, one day it’s gone and we realize that we thought we were the only changing thing, the only variable in the world. That the objects and people in our lives are there for our pleasure like the playing pieces of a game and cannot move of their own accord. THAT THEY ARE HELD IN PLACE BY OUR NEED FOR THEM, BY OUR LOVE. How stupid.”
Couldn’t put it down.
julia_notz's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0