Blue Ruin

Kunzru’s (Red Pill) latest introduces 40-something Jay, who, while recovering from COVID, collapses at a woodland retreat currently inhabited by his ex-lover, Alice; Alice’s husband, Rob, a painter who was once Jay’s closest friend and rival; and Marshall, a driven gallerist. The characters had once been young artists in London, friends and lovers on the verge of graduating from art school and entering the glittering world of exhibitions, collectors, and museums. Later, Alice runs off to the U.S. with Rob, and Jay ends up there as well, living out of his car and delivering food and groceries to make ends meet. Now, as they settle into their tenuous COVID pod, the characters examine their lives and ambitions, considering the allure and shallowness of the art world, which Jay turned away from years ago, and Rob embraces with dissolute fervor. Kunzru offers a meticulous narration of his novel, with crisp received pronunciation that is carefully paced to reveal the inner workings of the characters’ minds, seamlessly capturing their interiority and the tension that connects them all.