Less Is Lost

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.