Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Less

This is a great book to listen to when you’re walking somewhere or using public transport. Too long and literary to read in one sitting, but easy to come in and out of. Not one of my fav books of the year, but im satisfied with the ending.

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the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition

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lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

2.0

I found this book to be a pretty boring read. I also found Less to be a deeply unlikeable main character. I was hoping he would become someone who I would identify with more strongly as the book went on. But he generally didn't offer any redeeming qualities for me to resonate with. This being said, I enjoyed some of the secondary characters and wish more time had been devoted to getting to know them instead of Less.

I also found portions of the book very slow-paced and hard to get through. While the descriptions of many locations were beautiful and created compelling visuals, I found myself skimming certain sections because they went on for too long.

This also seems to be an unpopular opinion, but I found the ending to be cliché and not compelling. So much of the novel focuses on Less coming to terms with his break-up and growing old, only to give him this victory without any of the redeeming work to achieve it. Given the reflective tone of the rest of the book, I would have preferred Less to just find comfort in his separation from Freddy instead of needing to have them get back together. As a reader, it left me feeling confused with what I was meant to take away from this book as everything felt the same as the start of the journey.

It was an okay read, but I don't think it would be a book that I would recommend to others.

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bexi's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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rockyroadbutch's review against another edition

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slow-paced

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

1.0

This is getting a one star review because it is a book, and I did, in fact, finish reading it (due to peer pressure). This book is awful. The main character is deeply unlikeable, does not grow, and thinks his life is awful, even though it isn’t. The level of detail is absurd and unnecessary, making this book about four times longer than it needs to be. It’s poorly written and thinks too highly of itself. It feels homophobic, despite being written by a gay man. It’s racist, sexist, classist, ableist, and fatphobic. I don’t know what the Pulitzer Prize people were on, but unless you have some, don’t read this.

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