Less is lost

750 Pages·2022·5.051 MB·English

by  Andrew Sean Greer

The author would like to thank Lynn Nesbit, Judy Clain, Anna de la Rosa, Reagan Arthur, Nia
Howard, Stacey Parshall Jensen, Shadae Mallory, Tracy Roe, Lee Boudreaux, Daniel Handler,
Julie Orringer, Ayelet Waldman, the Westleys, David Ross, Priscilla Gillman, and Claudia
Fieger, as well as his family, including Elagene Trostle and nephews Arlo and Mack, who he
thinks will enjoy being in a book. Thanks to the Guggenheim Foundation for the grant that
allowed for all the RV rentals. This novel was begun at the MacDowell Colony, written at the
Santa Maddalena Foundation, and finished at Civitella Ranieri. Special thanks to Quo the dog,
who was steadfast, and to Enrico Rotelli, who always is. In memory of beloved Olive the pug
(2006–2022).
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or
dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 2022 by Andrew Sean Greer
Cover design by Julianna Lee
Cover illustration by Leo Espinosa
Cover copyright © 2022 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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Illustrations by Lilli Carré
ISBN 9780316267960
E3-20220524-NF-DA-ORI
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Sunset
Southwest
Southeast
Sunrise
Discover More
About the Author
Also by Andrew Sean Greer
For William Greer, my wonderful father
And the man that has anything bountifully laughable about him, be sure
there is more in that man than you perhaps think for.
—Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
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Sunset

LESS should have known, at the clinic a few weeks before, that his
relationship was in some trouble. It was an ordinary blood draw for an
ordinary medical checkup, the kind a man over fifty must submit to once a
year in America. The bell jingled as he opened the clinic door, then jingled
again as he failed to close it, then jingled again. And again. “Sorry!” he
shouted to the empty waiting room, its only inhabitants a clipboard, a
watercooler, and a fan of gossip magazines in absurd hues. But look at Less:
A sweatshirt as bright as a highlighter, a little Marseillais fisherman’s hat.
Let’s not anyone here call anyone else absurd.