So Much Blue: A Novel

Generally, a story that held my interest. But there are two things about this book I didn't like. It has significant implausibilities, and it jumps around too much. First, he is in a war zone in Latin America, and sees the corpse of a child who had been killed recently. This is supposed to have had a shattering affect on the protagonist. Even more striking, someone is shooting at him, trying to kill him. He somewhat accidentally fires back and kills that person. Saying that he is plagued by guilt for 30 years is an understatement. He is driven to return to these scenes those years later, and happens upon a local resident in an empty building. It just so happens that she hears his story and promptly walks him to the home of the family of the dead infant girl, a few blocks away. This might be a plausible if only five or 10 people lived in that country. Beyond these specific details, I just did not find the protagonist plausible. The second element I disliked in this book was the chapters jumping from one time period to another. It seems that someone has instructed all modern writers to do this. I don't see that it adds anything, and makes it seem like television serials that have to get to a stopping point, leaving you anxious to get to the next chapter. Why is it that Dostoevsky, Melville, and Hemingway were able to write good stories that you didn't need this element? It is just an artifice. But the underlying stories and the writing quality were such that I would still give it four stars, deducting only one star for my peeves.

This story about a middle-aged artist reckoning with his past takes us through three formative periods in his life.In 1979, Kevin accompanies his best friend Richard to El Salvador to search for Richard’s brother in the increasingly dangerous country. While there, he has a life-altering experience that haunts him from that point forward.After coming home from El Salvador, Kevin marries Linda, a woman whom he likes but doesn’t love, desperate for a sense of security and normalcy. Years later, he has an affair with a young French woman while spending time in Paris for an art show.In the present, Kevin’s daughter has a secret of her own that she entrusts Kevin to keep, and that further drives a wedge between him and Linda.So Much Blue is, at its core, a book about the secrets we keep from the people we love, and how the choices we make shape us into who we are. It’s about a man on the edge of crisis in different phases of his life, and the ways in which he tries to justify and elude his past.It’s richly intellectual and surprisingly very funny in spite of the heavy subject matter. An engaging exploration of one man’s life.

Hello Percival Everett. I must admit to being unaware of this very good writer prior to reading the almost quiet, composed, understated novel that is So Much Blue. A middle-aged painter of some success, lives a life colored by events of his college days when he accompanied his closest friend to El Salvador to find said friend's lost? disappeared? brother. Their journey, and subsequent lives, are affected by the violence of a war-torn third world country that gives them little but takes away a great deal. There is death, and regret, and friendship, and anger that continues to live among the thoughts and feelings of the protagonist. There is great strength here, both in the story and in the writing. I would call this work a successful exploration of the underlying currents that define all our lives, the unshared thoughts and reflections that shape our hidden fears and desires and our relationships with others. Mr. Everett, I shall read you again.

In light of the current climate, which has been how many women have felt all along, the older man/younger French woman affair turned me off. It was hard to get beyond that and appreciate the good writing and interesting story.I liked how there were secrets in the 3 story lines and how the protagonist doesn't use the color blue, the color of trust and loyalty. He can handle the guilt of the affair with the young French woman, and divulging his daughter's secret to his friend Richard but not to his wife as he should have, and his South American secret, but he can't handle the shame.When he did what he did in El Salvador, part of him "evaporated". It feels like he's disassociated and trying to put himself back together. The secret painting is a timeline with no clear points in time on it. So it must be a circle. Many brush strokes are covered up, layered. It's where he works out his depression, it's his therapy.The big reveal was not too much of a surprise. It's what's kept Freud and Jungian talk therapy alive for all these years. Secrets have a way of destroying a person if left untold.If it weren't for the affair, I would have liked it more. I simply could not feel compassion for the character. Pig comes to mind, even though the story was well-written and interesting.

This is a departure for Everett -- but that should come as no surprise to his readers. The tripartite narrative is masterfully handled; the novel is both moving and thought-provoking; and it is a page-turner. I literally read the book from cover to cover in one sitting. Having read each of his books, I can say without qualification that this is among his best. Everett's humor and satire are more muted here than is typically the case with his work, but the deeper chords of his melody are sounded more profoundly. Also, because the book is less allusive (and elusive) than much of his recent output, it should find him new readers among those less familiar with his writing.

This book was a recommendation in my book club. The main character was revealed in three different scenarios that depicted his various personality traits. Once that was understood, the reading was more interestingly followed. it was interesting and unpredictable.

Had read a review in UK of a book of short stories by this author but preferring a full length novel looked on Amazon to find out more of what he had written by reading reviews by readers and chose this book and Gods Country. Having finished the first and well into the second I can say the author for me writes in a way that makes me want to pick up the book and read on again which is one way of judging a book. I am looking for the next one

A very well-written, and intriguing, account of three periods of an artist's life. None of the characters is perfect, but their faults are not harshly judged, and beautifully observed. I was very sad to finish it.

Funny, intelligent and emotionally engaging. All you can reasonably expect from a novel. Cannot recommend this one enough. Will look out for more from this author.

What a crazy story! Interwoven with yet another one! I started this book in a doctor's waiting room and was disappointed when called after one hour because I didn't want to stop reading. Stumbled upon this author by coincidence and will now order more of his books as I really like his style and absolutely beautiful way of writing and use of language.