Less Is Lost

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Part 4Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 4 Summary: “Sunrise”

The narrator, Freddy Pelu, turns the focus on himself. At an academic party in Maine, Freddy meets Jason, a sociology professor who has been winning a bet against his students that he can go six months without human touch. Now that he’s won, Freddy offers him his hand. Jason touches Freddy’s chest, and both men cry.

Freddy leaves for Valonica Island, where supposedly the sun first strikes America. The island is quite empty, and the only place Freddy can stay is an inn called The Oldest Living Whaler’s Widow’s Inn. He imagines that being a whaler’s wife is similar to his own relationship with Arthur, who travels without him to pay off debt. Freddy throws his phone in the water to make his isolation complete. He begins writing the book he has long dreamed of: a love story inspired by Arthur.

Freddy returns to Arthur’s experiences. Arthur survived the hurricane and is driving North. When he stops for donuts, he hears an announcement about a Super Beaver Moon, which means that night the full moon will be enormous. Arthur has missed the final voting meeting for the Prize committee and has been kicked off the jury.

Arthur makes it to his sister’s house in Delaware. Rebecca notices their mother’s antique pen in Arthur’s hand; he explains that it was stuck for years until Freddy finally took it apart. Arthur and Rebecca take a walk on the beach to admire the Super Beaver Moon.

On his way to his event, Rosina the camper van breaks down. Arthur is shocked when Andrew, his high school bully turned kindly history and driver’s ed teacher, helps him. Upon arriving late at the event, Arthur discovers that the lecture tour is actually for another author named Arthur Less. This other Arthur Less is a Black author whom Arthur has heard of but never met. The mysterious benefactor of the Southern tour, a Black organization, was also looking for this Arthur Less. Arthur gives the other Arthur the check.

Arthur calls the Oldest Living Whaler’s Widow’s Inn, but Freddy has already left. Freddy is attaining his own dream of traveling across the country in a train and is currently approaching Chicago. Freddy is in love with Arthur, but he also has dreams of his own that he doesn’t know how to work through while in their relationship. Freddy finds out that a literary Prize has been awarded to someone he knows. He gets to California and there’s a knocking on his night-train door. Arthur has found him.

Part 4 Analysis

Part 4 features Freddy’s side of the story. Freddy embraces solitude, a stark contrast from Arthur, who fears being alone. Freddy enjoys time on his own so much that he isolates himself further on Valonica Island and throws his phone in the water. Freddy needs space to think through his relationship with Arthur and his own individual anxieties. He also wants his own space in which to write his novel. Arthur, who is more successful than Freddy, eclipses him at home, the way that Robert eclipsed Arthur.

Freddy wants to write his own story about Arthur. In spite of being in the present tense, the text of Less Is Lost suggests that he may have done this—after all, this is a novel about Arthur told through Freddy’s point of view. Freddy needs his own stories and his own life, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want Arthur to be a part of them.

Freddy doesn’t last long in solitude. Freddy has always wanted to take a train journey, but never did because Arthur didn’t want to. Freddy does most of the compromising, emphasizing a challenging imbalance. Greer suggests a shift when Arthur finds him, meeting him in a space of Freddy’s making. This cements their love and saves their relationship. In the earlier novel Less, Freddy follows Arthur to Europe to win him back. The role reversal in Less Is Lost rebalances their relationship, proving that both Arthur and Freddy choose one another.

Arthur’s sister is his remaining family and someone on whom he can lean. The Super Beaver Moon is a symbol of unity. No matter how different people are, we’re all under the same moon and stars, pondering the same existential questions that the moon and stars inspire. Delaware holds memories of Arthur’s childhood, which he has been running away from for a long time. Arthur’s return to his hometown marks his resolution with the past that has been haunting him. When Arthur meets his high school bully, who is now surprisingly kind, Greer emphasizes that everyone is living in their own myth where they are the protagonist, doing the best they can with the life they have. Arthur’s problems are not unique to him.

Greer comments on racism in America. Arthur, a white male, has taken something that rightfully belongs to the other Arthur Less, a Black American. This parallels the long history of institutionalized racism in America.

Arthur’s mother’s antique pen is an important symbol. The pen represents Arthur’s relationship with his mother, who has passed. It also symbolizes his reliance on Freddy. Freddy is the one who opened the pen after everyone else struggled and failed. He opened it with ease, reflecting his role as Arthur’s rock, support system, and problem solver. When Arthur nearly loses the pen, it echoes his fear that he’s losing Freddy. Finding the pen inspires Arthur to find Freddy.