Arthur Less Hits the Road
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Of course, this summary hardly does justice to the book, which is charming, almost seductive, in its use of language. The narrator’s voice is particularly amusing. Early on, at a party, a character is described as “unable to swallow even the vegetables of small talk.” Later, at the Marrakech airport, the narrator describes how Less sits “in the Lessian manner—legs crossed at the knee, free foot fidgeting—and, as usual, his long legs find themselves in the way of one passenger after another.” Summarizing Less’ almost affair in Paris, the narrator comments: “Any narrator would be jealous of this possible love, on this possible night.” Gradually, it becomes clear that this narrator is not simply a third-person omniscient being, but rather someone near to Less who truly knows the author. Discovering the narrator’s identity becomes a pleasurable game, in the course of which we learn that Less might have a chance at real success, after all.

Arthur Less is an incredibly sympathetic character, delightful and funny for his foibles. He carries a Russian cosmonaut’s helmet onstage to interview H. H. Mandern, a much more popular science fiction author, because it seems a bookstore employee had instructed him “to dressup.” When he sobs at the end of a musical, the woman in the next seat comforts him, while he thinks, “Nothing happened to me. I’m just a homosexual at a Broadway show.” After a fellow author suggests that he’s “a bad gay” because he makes his “characters suffer without reward,” he can only reply, compelled “by the cruel checkmate of conversation: Thank you.”

The plot is also well constructed, with lots of amusing incidents. The fun begins in New York City, with Less almost missing his interview with Mandern due to a broken clock in the hotel lobby and a mistaken assumption by his escort. While teaching a class in Berlin, he falls ill and, locking himself out of his apartment, nearly kills himself trying to get in. Traveling through a sandstorm in Morocco with an eccentric group of expatriates, he finds himself in a ski chalet that belongs more in Switzerland. He accidentally locks himself in a dining room in Japan. At an author’s party in Paris, he has a fascinating conversation with a charming man, finding himself falling in love, only to realize the man is already in a relationship. During a writer-in-residence stint at a Christian retreat in southern India, he steps on a piece of glass and is rushed to a hospital.
All the while, he thinks about his nine-year affair with the soon-to-be-married Freddy, the nephew and adopted son of a rival author. While a casual relationship, with neither Less nor the much younger Freddy considering anything serious, Less finds himself unexpectedly surprised and heartbroken when it ends. The novel is a real pleasure to read, sad and funny at once, seemingly light while offering much to ponder afterwards.
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