Blue Ruin, the third in a theme based trilogy by Hari Kunzru, is a novel that starts with Jay delivering groceries during the beginning of the Covid pandemic. He is very sick and living in his car due to his roommates kicking him out for not wanting to catch what he has. When Jay sees that the person who he is delivering groceries to is not only a ghost from his past but someone who ghosted him years early halfway across the world, he thinks it is a side effect of his sickness. Alice was his girlfriend, lover, and drug friend at a London art school, until she ran off with Rob, another artist and friend, while Jay was lost in his drug use. Now that they are facing each other, years later and thousand of miles away, the old feelings and rivalries quickly boil over.

The main thing that keeps this triangle together (and tears them apart) is art and their individual theories on what art means. Jay is the one who does not believe that art should not be any sort of commercial commodity. Rob has built his life on selling paintings and his biggest struggle in the moment is creating six paintings that he has already been paid to paint. While Rob works to fulfill his obligations, Jay has always done things on his own terms, leaving art behind during a final art performance, to travel the world and do whatever he needs to do to survive. In the scheme of things, Jay is much more revered for disappearing than Rob is for having years of consistent art production. This difference in philosophies and work is what keeps the wedge drawn between the two men, and makes sure the tension is high enough to where where they will never get to the same place that they were when they were young.

Kunzru raises the question. “Is art a commodity, and if so what is it worth in a society that is struggling just to survive?” By setting Blue Ruin during Covid lockdown, where none of the characters know if society is going to collapse, and they are certain that they are witnessing the end of America, is there even an importance in creating new paintings? Kunzru has created a space where Jay in his anti-commercial art makes more sense than Rob working every day trying to get paintings finished. The only other book I have read by Hari Kunzru is White Tears, and I honestly expected a much weirder story, one that becomes more surreal and convoluted, but instead we get a story that is pretty straight forward, one that has more interest in conveying a question to the readers and hoping for a discussion than turning into a art project on its own. Due to the direct manner of the story, Kunzru is making me think more about the questions that are asked and feelings that are conveyed, because this is more important than letting the style become a distraction.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A fascinating window into the art world through the relationships of the narrator Jay, his former partner Alice, and the man she left him for: his former best friend Rob. The flow of the story is centered more on Jay's memories of the trio's time together in their late teens/early twenties for the first two thirds of the book, but in the last third it becomes something quite different. I don't want to go into detail for fear of spoiling anything for potential readers, but I found this to be a really illuminating meditation on what it means to make art, and what art IS, and what drives the value of art. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book.

2.5/5
Thank you Net Galley and Knopf for an ARC of this book!
"Blue Ruin" is another pandemic novel which explores the changing social dynamics and art culture in the Pandemic world. My biggest issue with this novel was that it did not offer anything new to the conversation around post-pandemic life. I did enjoy the prose and writing style of this novel. The craft of writing kept me interested to complete the novel.

Jay, Alice and Rob were art students together but their lives have diverged tremendously- until now when Jay, unhoused and gig working, delivers a pizza to their home, Much of this- the relationship between Alice and Jay-is told in flashbacks of a sort. Is it a pandemic novel? Well, it's set in 2020 but it's also about the art world and how art is valued. Oddly it's somewhat emotionless but it's also more accessible than Kunzru's earlier work, Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of literary fiction.

The past and present collide during the pandemic when a former artist delivers groceries to an isolated estate. Waiting on the porch is his ex—girlfriend. The artist, still recovering from COVID faints, and his ex cajoles him into staying at the estate. During the stay, the artist tells the story of his life over the past two decades and learns some astonishing truths about his reputation. A startling, engaging read that examines art and what it means to live.

4.5/5

A well delivered insight into a character’s reconciliation of their past and present. The beauty lies not with the story itself but the people that inhabit it and the paths that each one walks. Some of it felt melodramatic but subdued enough to get by.

Blue Ruin
Hari Kunzru
Knopf (May 14, 2024)
https://knopfdoubleday.com
978-0593801376, $28.00

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Ruin-novel-Hari-Kunzru/dp/0593801377/

Give me a book about art and artists, and I’m a happy reader. I find Blue Ruin particularly interesting because it raises many questions about what art is, what it’s like to produce it, and how much of an artist’s life is performance. I'm still pondering it several days after finishing it.

Jay is attending art school in London; just before he graduates, he destroys the paintings he’s produced for his final show, abandons representational art, and puts on a performance piece instead. From there, he seems marked for greatness in the field of conceptual art. He and his girlfriend, Alice (who wants to be a curator), live in a bubble filled with drugs and sex in the manner of Timothy Leary's infamous line "Turn on, tune in, drop out" from 1966. She eventually tires of the lifestyle and runs off with his best friend, Rob, (who becomes a more traditional painter) to the United States.

Eventually, Jay tries to not produce art but to be art. He reminds me of the Bulgarian artist Alzek Misheff who swam across the ocean by swimming in the pool of an ocean liner back in the 1970s. Jay ends up living his life in a dropped-out mode as he travels the world without documentation (no passport, etc) and ends up an illegal alien in the US and is reduced to delivering groceries. He becomes very ill from Covid, is thrown out of his apartment by his paranoid roommates, and begins living in his vehicle. While recovering, he makes a grocery delivery to a large estate and is met at the door by Alice. She, Rob, and another couple (Marshall and Nicole) are self-isolating to avoid getting Covid. When his past and present collide, Jay must confront his feelings at being ghosted by Alice and Rob and take a closer look at his toxic relationships with Alice, Rob, drugs, and alcohol.

This is an exceptional book if you can overlook the huge coincidence that Jay meets Alice again. When he tells the isolated group his story, he says he had no idea he was delivering groceries to her, but he is simply continuing an artistic performance? I also liked the representation of other races: Jay is biracial, Alice is half French and half Vietnamese, and Nicole is Black. Except for the impact of Jay's race on his relationship with his bigoted stepfather, these people of color are just people. I liked this book enough to read Kunzru’s backlist.

Thought provoking, a fantastic Covid novel and one that in flashbacks captured the Y2K London art scene in what feels like a ketamine dream. A more relatable pandemic novel than Anne Patchett's /Tom Lake/ which I also submerged in. This book felt like a glimpse into maybe what happened during COVID to a characters who survived /Trainspotting/. I’ve read one other novel by this author and I will seek out more.

I read an ARC of this novel from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Blue Ruin by Hari Kunzru is a compelling exploration of the tangled webs woven by London's artistic elite, unfurling against the backdrop of a pandemic-stricken world. Kunzru deftly navigates the complexities of art, ambition, and human relationships, drawing readers into a realm where the boundaries between creation and destruction blur with haunting clarity.

Jay, Rob and Alice are London artists who seek freedom of expression and freedom in their life. They compete with one another, sometimes in how outrageous, how abstract their artistic creations can be; sometimes; they compete in their relationships. Alice and Jay are a couple until Rob takes Alice away. After this, Jay disappears for years, traveling the world. When he accidentally turns up at her door with a grocery delivery during the pandemic, she takes him in to the remote house where she has sheltered with her husband Jay and friends, Marshall, a manager of artists and Nicole, his girlfriend. Marshall is excited to meet Jay, a legendary figure in his eyes. Hari Kunzru has given us a group of self-absorbed characters who are annoying and confusing at times. Flashbacks reveal the roots of their friendship and explain their present reactions to one another. They are never happy, never satisfied, still searching for their identities. I find it tedious all around.

A dark and clever tale about the perils of art making. The story takes place during the pandemic and is very thought provoking re: art and society. A very enjoyable read.
Many thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Kunzru concludes his shapeshifting RED WHITE AND BLUE project (WHITE TEARS, RED PILL, and now this) with a pandemic novel that also serves as a thought-provoking look at art and relationships. It's a strong read on those counts, although it didn't hit the heights for me of RED PILL and certainly not WHITE TEARS, which might go down as Kunzru's second masterpiece (after MY REVOLUTIONS). Still, it's a treat to see rich people upstate behaving badly as seen through someone who isn't rich. A good, if not great, novel.

When Jay delivers a pizza order on that fateful day during Covid, Alice is shocked to see him. She lives with Rob, has been married for many years with a 15 year old child but still remembers their time together. Years ago, Jay, Alice and Rob were students in art school in London.

A series of flashbacks begin to shed light on what happened in the past as we slowly see what happened to Jay, who once had it all and was a star in the Art World. The beginning is a slow burn but the last third is swift. A telling tale on Art, society and excess (and Covid) highly recommend! So Creepy and claustrophobic.
A great edition to the pandemic books! #harikunzru #KnopfPantheonVintageandAnchor, #Knopf

*Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy of this book.*Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy of this book.

I cannot wait to give every reader I know a copy of "Blue Ruin" by Hari Kunzru — what an incredibly written novel! I feel like the general consensus on COVID-related media and entertainment is still weary at best, but Kunzru somehow managed to take us through a journey of these people refining each other and their struggles and their feelings during this timeframe in a way I didn't know was possible. Kunzru has captured so much real life and emotion so accurately; I couldn't put this book down. I don't know what else to say without ruining it, but the writing is phenomenal, the ending was great (which I do NOT say often), and I can't wait to read more by this author.

really interesting portrait of an artist and the ripple effects actions have on people's lives. excellent work by Kunzru. tysm for the arc

A haunting treatise on the pandemic that moves intimately. This will be remembered as a small epic of our era. A must read to teach future generations about the pandemic. It will be interesting to see how far this book will go.

Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf for this ARC of Blue Ruin by Hari Kunzru.

Having read many of the past works from the author, as always, my feelings are a bit mixed about this one. This is a COVID novel set in the world of art (or an art world novel set in the times of COVID). This is a slow languid story that sometimes takes too long to get to the point

Art and race collide in Kunzru’s latest, a nicely drawn and yet largely unconvincing Covid novel that works more like a chamber piece than a fully rounded novel. Yes, there’s a love affair but without much passion. Instead, much of the work is a debate about modern art, capitalism, fashionability, modishness and choices. None of the characters lives and breathes, nor do the experiences hold much water. A cerebral exercise, not hard to read but not much of a story either.

A smart book about the art world that makes you contemplate what part of an artist's life is performance and the strangeness of our society. I got a little pandemic ptsd due to the covid scenes, but there were some really interesting moments and in the end I liked this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Knopf for this ARC of Blue Ruin by Hari Kunzru.

This was beautifully written. Although mostly unlikeable, the characters were well developed. It wasn’t until close to the end of the book that I finally felt empathy for the characters.

I like books with present and past storylines. I struggled with the first half of the book that mostly took place in the past. I wish there was more frequent back and forth with the past and present storylines to keep my interest. The past storyline read as a diary of a young man to me. I think it was important and necessary for developing the main character, his perception of the supporting characters, and give the reader background, but it made it drag on for me with little dialogue and lacked a Page-Turner feel. I like books that give a question/mystery early on and make me eager to see how the pieces come together. Simply running into an ex under unlikely circumstances wasn’t enough to make me hungry to read the first half. I wish there were more of a hook that helped me enjoy the past storyline more than wondering how many pages before we get back to the present. That said, the second half of the book was an easier/swifter read for me, packed with excitement and “what’s going to happen next?”.

This gets ⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me.