Review: "So Much Blue" by Percival Everett

Seeing that this is American writer Percival Everett’s 28^th book, I was expecting it to be a bit rushed and lazy, but through three separate and intertwining narratives, each one powerful and engaging, I was proved wrong. A sort of hidden national treasure, I have been aware of Everett’s work for quite some time but this is the first time I have read him and I would not say I was surprised that it was good, but I was surprised at its complexity in telling a story of a painter through three different times in his life, all of which are separate enough to convey different feelings but have a little bit in common with each other to, by the end, act as reflections of one another and the narrator’s personality and how it changes. It begins in the head of Kevin Pace, said narrator, as he discusses his latest work that he is toiling away on. He discusses his many professional success and failures, the intricacies of his technique and finally his past, of which two events come across as gravely important. Then, the narrative fractures into three parts. In the present, Kevin is an old man whose daughter April tells him that he is pregnant but makes him promise not to tell his wife Linda. Ten years prior to this, Kevin is living in Paris away from his wife and begins to have an affair with Victoire, a young art student. And in the year 1979, Kevin, in his mid twenties, joins his friend Richard on a trip to war torn El Salvador to search for Richard’s older, wayward brother. I enjoyed finding clues as to how each of these periods in Kevin’s life informs the other, such as thing’s characters say, the way they say it and Kevin’s reaction to them. It forms a cohesive and multi-dimensional look at an artist who can’t escape regret. Sometimes, one section can be better than the other, and the ending was a little too clean-cut, but this is a well crafted and intimate novel from a talent I am eager to delve deeper into.

Rating: 4/5