Funny, sad, absurd, compassionate, and ultimately uplifting.
My favourite quote:

Because to love someone ridiculous is to understand something deep and true about the world. That up close it makes no sense. Those of you who choose sensible people may feel secure, but I think you water your wine; the wonder of life is in its small absurdities, so easily overlooked. And if you have not shared somebody’s tilted view of the horizon (which is the actual world), tell me: what have you really seen?

I loved “Less”, so when I spied this earlier novel by Greer, I grabbed it. It started with such promise: The impossible happens once to each of us. We meet Greta Wells in 1985. She’s trying to deal with a whole load of grief and failing miserably. So she accepts a radical treatment for her depression - ECT. When she wakes from her first session it’s 1918. Voila!
I’m usually very good at suspending disbelief to allow a good story its wings - but this wasn’t a good story. I found the characters shallow and unbelievable, and I found Greta unsympathetic. I was annoyed by the constant time changes, and it seemed the basic question was “Oh dear, which life will I choose?” I didn’t really care, I’m afraid. It was just plain silly. Very disappointed.

Arthur Less is about to turn 50. For someone who is looking down the barrel of turning 60, I found Arthur’s story resonated. I loved Arthur Less. I related to him, although on the surface we have very little in common: Less is gay, and a semi-successful writer, who has rubbed shoulders with the famous and infamous alike; I’m a heterosexual woman, middle class and happily married.
There are moments in our lives, particularly as we grow older, where we look back and wonder - did we make the right decisions? Those sliding-door moments. Greer captures this sense of regret, melancholy and grief, but adds a vein of humour that had me laugh out loud on many occasions (always awkward on a crowded train).
And then he floors you with something like this:
“He kisses - how do I explain it? Like someone in love. Like he has nothing to lose. 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. There are some men who have never been kissed like that. There are some men who discover, after Arthur Less, that they never will be again."
Greer is a master of figurative language. Here are two examples that I loved: “He finds himself awakening at dawn, when the sea is brightening but the sun still struggles in its bedclothes…” and as his memory lists all his mistakes and regrets: “His brain sits before its cash register again, charging him for old shames as if he has not paid before."
I’m not normally a fan of books that fall into the romantic comedy genre, but Less stole my heart!