Blue Ruin
A novel
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3.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK • From one of the sharpest voices in fiction today, a profound and enthralling novel about beauty and power, capital, art and those who devote their lives to creating it
Once, Jay was an artist. After graduating from art school in London, he was tipped for greatness, a promising career taking shape before him. That was not to happen. Now, undocumented in the United States, having survived Covid, he lives out of his car and barely makes a living as an essential worker, delivering groceries in a wealthy area of upstate New York. One day, as Jay attempts to make a delivery at a house surrounded by acres of woods, he is confronted by his destructive past: Alice, a former lover from his art school days, and the friend she left him for. Recognizing Jay’s dire circumstances, Alice invites him to stay on their property—where an erratic gallery owner and his girlfriend are isolating as well—setting in motion a reckoning that has been decades in the making.
Gripping and brilliantly orchestrated, Blue Ruin moves back and forth through time, delivering an extraordinary portrait of an artist as he reunites with his past and confronts the world he once loved and left behind.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A conceptual artist considers his past and faces his present in this impressive work of literary fiction set during the pandemic. Jay, Alice, and Rob attended art school together in ’90s London. But Jay hasn’t seen his former girlfriend and friend since the two ran off together, so it’s a shock when Jay—struggling with long COVID—arrives to deliver groceries at a posh gated property outside New York and finds himself mask-to-mask with Alice. The subtle but compelling drama unfolds from there, as Jay attempts to confront his friends, his past, and his art. Author Hari Kunzru delves straight into big questions of financial inequality, artistic integrity, and misinformation. And he cleverly folds these themes into the driving narrative; we were caught off-guard as the novel became ever more tense, quick, and claustrophobic. The characters in this thought-provoking tale aren’t always likable, but their story certainly is.
Customer Reviews
Didn’t love this book
This book was really strange and at times just seemed ridiculous. Sometimes the dialogue was so stilted and strange. It started off really strong and then really went nowhere.