Arthur Less

Arthur Less, a little-known American author, is the protagonist in Less is Lost. At the outset of the novel, his ordinary world is disrupted when his ex-boyfriend, Robert Brownburn dies, and he learns that he will have to move out of the Shack if he does not pay back rent. Less fears that he will fall apart without Robert’s direction and overbearing presence in his life. He decides to take as many literary engagements as he can in order to amass the amount he needs for the back rent. Instead of travelling to Maine, where his partner Freddy Pelu is on sabbatical, he sets off to the Sierra Nevada to profile the famed author H. H. H. Mandern. However, instead of flying to Sante Fe after his reading, Mandern asks Less to drive him into the desert to reunite with his daughter. Less reluctantly agrees and...