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A review by frasersimons
So Much Blue by Percival Everett
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This went down pretty smoothly, but it also never really had prose or plot beats that really stood out, to me. It’s the kind of book where things simply happen and because of a lack of specificity, it’s up to the reader to project meaning and, sometimes, even interest.
Mostly this happened for me when, during one of the three narratives occurring, the ten years past one, in which he’s describing having an affair with a woman something like twenty years his junior (which, he an artist, knows is cliché). The fact that he has a secret to tell and this has influenced his art and his relationship to his wife and children is compelling.
But the rendering of it is not.
It is so pedestrian, in fact—especially when compared to the twenty years past storyline, in which he’s in South America and a coup is taking place—that you actively have to assign meaning to it, because he cannot do so, beyond his knowing noticing it’s effect on his home situation. It could be clever, since it mimics a reader looking at any number of art pieces on display. But there is no painting to look at because there isn’t enough detail to notice anything much at all. It doesn’t have good prose styling to make you feel like you’re getting something out of these past events either.
In the end, all I know is that an unlikable man doesn’t know himself very well, doesn’t know why he’s doing the things he’s doing, but vaguely knows he needs to do something, though not what it is, other than to go do something after he lets his family down, and then something changes. Again. He doesn’t know what. Good job little buddy, I guess. He has essentially one realization and it’s fairly cruel and cowardly, which makes him even less interesting than initially expected.
Still. It does go down easily, this novel. It’s quick and seems to have resonated with other people. I myself am not an artist, so it’s possible some connections were present I did not make, or meant little to nothing to me. I don’t think this is a bad book. It’s just one that did not resonate with me at all.
Mostly this happened for me when, during one of the three narratives occurring, the ten years past one, in which he’s describing having an affair with a woman something like twenty years his junior (which, he an artist, knows is cliché). The fact that he has a secret to tell and this has influenced his art and his relationship to his wife and children is compelling.
But the rendering of it is not.
It is so pedestrian, in fact—especially when compared to the twenty years past storyline, in which he’s in South America and a coup is taking place—that you actively have to assign meaning to it, because he cannot do so, beyond his knowing noticing it’s effect on his home situation. It could be clever, since it mimics a reader looking at any number of art pieces on display. But there is no painting to look at because there isn’t enough detail to notice anything much at all. It doesn’t have good prose styling to make you feel like you’re getting something out of these past events either.
In the end, all I know is that an unlikable man doesn’t know himself very well, doesn’t know why he’s doing the things he’s doing, but vaguely knows he needs to do something, though not what it is, other than to go do something after he lets his family down, and then something changes. Again. He doesn’t know what. Good job little buddy, I guess. He has essentially one realization and it’s fairly cruel and cowardly, which makes him even less interesting than initially expected.
Still. It does go down easily, this novel. It’s quick and seems to have resonated with other people. I myself am not an artist, so it’s possible some connections were present I did not make, or meant little to nothing to me. I don’t think this is a bad book. It’s just one that did not resonate with me at all.