Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Less by Andrew Sean Greer

13 reviews

redheadorganist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Cancer, and Grief

Minor: Vomit, Drug use, and Injury/Injury detail

mirandyli's review against another edition

funny reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

I'm not sure how this book won a Pulitzer, but who am I to judge. I'm not one of the people who give out Pulitzers. This book was painfully mediocre. There were some funny parts thrown in I guess. Some parts were pretty racist. You're not missing out if you decide not to read this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Racism, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Drug use

standardissuecat's review against another edition

funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A great read! Hilarious in an intellectual way. Recommended for those who love travel literature. I loved going into this character's world. 

Favorite quotes:

"What does one ever ask an author except: 'How?'" (pg. 8)
"Once you've actually been in love, you can't live with 'will do'; it's worse than living with yourself." (pg. 15)
"Like a bad lay, a bad musical can still do its job perfectly well." (pg. 22)
"What was it like to live with genius? Like living alone. Like living alone with a tiger." (pg. 65)
"Was this why we all threw stones at the police, for weddings?" (pg. 78)
"He kisses...like someone who has just learned a foreign language and can use only the present tense and only the second person. Only now, only you." (pg. 113)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent and Sexual content

Minor: Homophobia

itsheyfay's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Infidelity, and Alcohol

Minor: Death of parent and Cancer

spineofthesaurus's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, and Medical content

Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, Self harm, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Grief, Racism, Sexual content, and Abandonment

Minor: Cancer and Death of parent

mostlyvoidpartiallystars's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-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

3.75

I liked this book both more and less than I expected, somehow! I thought it would be more of an outright comedy - think Hitchhiker's Guide - but it was more lighthearted and amusing than laugh out loud funny. The tone was much more reflective than I expected. Honestly, it felt like a very gentle satirization of contemporary literature - I felt like it both had a lot of love for the genre, while also pointing out the many ways it can be elitist, privileged, and out of touch. 

And, for my recurring section: Do they bury their gays?

no. The main character does not die, and there are many other queer characters who do not die. A lot of relationships do end, some more sadly than others, but none are outright tragic, and there are interesting reflections on queer happiness and love throughout. Neither primary romance of the story ends in tragedy or death.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Homophobia, Sexual content, Vomit, and Grief

Minor: Death of parent, Child abuse, Death, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Fatphobia

pastlifetragedy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Death of parent

mcoleman1250's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

isabelmary's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

not mad that I read it but would not re-read. lots of wisdom, compassion and insight from the author. highbrow eat pray love with very little time for developing any characters beyond the main character, who sadly was not as endearing to me as the author hoped. prose is beautiful but often overdone. the whole thing ends up being very very meta and actually the final third does pull it off, but that couldn’t stop the first half from feeling like a gentle little drag. still nice to see happy books win prizes.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Alcohol, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, and Infidelity

Minor: Fatphobia and Homophobia

kb33's review against another edition

funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

At first I didn’t think I would like this book, and I couldn’t connect with Arthur Less. But somewhere around 1/4 to 1/3 of the way through, I got hooked. It didn’t matter that I have absolutely nothing in common with a 50 year old single gay man, the book just got better and better. 

Be careful of reviews below, one of them spoils the ending and this website has no way to report it. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Drug use and Death of parent