Less (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize): A Novel (The Arthur Less Books Book 1)

What does a camel love?

There was a room of carvings by Gauguin. And one said: Be mysterious. And the other one said: Be in love, you will be happy.

while lacking youth’s verve, Freddy had all of youth’s passions; one could sit back with a bag of popcorn and watch the romances and comedies of his mind projected onto his face, and the lenses of his tortoiseshell glasses swirled with his thoughts like the iridescent membranes of soap bubbles.

watch the romances and comedies of his mind projected onto his face,

“You need to get an edge,” his old rival Carlos constantly told him in the old days, but Less had not known what that meant. To be mean? No, it meant to be protected, armored against the world, but can one “get” an edge any more than one can “get” a sense of humor?

Strange, though; because he is afraid of everything, nothing is harder than anything else. Taking a trip around the world is no more terrifying than buying a stick of gum. The daily dose of courage.

“And now, I am sorry, I must kill most of you.”

the daily rush of newness: new pleasures, new people, new reflections of yourself.

We all recognize grief in moments that should be celebrations; it is the salt in the pudding.