Percival Everett by Virgil Russell Paperback – Import, 16 September 2021

If you're into clever yet avant-garde writing styles, then you may like this book. At many times, it can be hard or impossible to fully comprehend what's going, but the book has a nice charm to it. The narrative structure is pretty different from your typical schlock (which this book is not). Read it if you like that kind of stuff.

Percival Everett writes intelligently and insightfully. This time he lost me. I had a very hard time keeping track of who, when, and where I was supposed to be in this book.

Less straightforward than some of Percival Everett's other works (including his masterpiece Erasure), this is nonetheless a beautifully written contemplation of narrative, storytelling, and mortality. Stick with it and you will not be sorry.

Once again mesmerized by the way Percival Everett's imagination carries me through his unique way that his characters look at the world.

Anyone who has read Percival Everett knows he is one of the greatest writers of this time. And his talent is always on full display in all of his work. However, the circuitous nature of this novel makes this a difficult book to enjoy and review. Perhaps he was attempting to be too clever with the shifting narrators, is it the father, the son, or the son writing as the father would have wished? The decision to do it that way obstructs the flow of the novel and keeps it from making great sense.Percival manages to make many statements on writing, life, death and other things. These observations are always poignant and well put, but due to the shiftiness of the story, they may not be well appreciated. There are moments that are humorous and brilliant, just not enough of them.It seems like Percival was being clever for the sake of showing his writing brilliance, and forgot to make the novel resonate. And I'm afraid many will be disappointed by this failure to connect with the reader.