10:04

I don't feel like I'm even qualified to speak competently about this book but I'll give it a go.

What is the book about? Nothing and everything at once, the presence of the past in our modern lives and our projected selves into a glimpsed future. On another plane it's a novel about art and the creative process and how everything informs the artist and his worldview.

This is a novel about the writing of said novel so yes very meta. And I liked it. It gave my gray cells a workout and though you might not think so there is a level of warmth in the author's relationship with his friend Alex and their attempt at reproduction. And then there was the almost fugue state of the author's residency in Marfa etc.

This is not a linear plot driven story but one worth spending time getting immersed in much like a flaneur.

Want to read a novel that is surprising? Clever? Thoughtful? Vivid?

Can you accept that this novel is also (occasionally) cruel? Brutal? Deflating?

The most brilliant novel I've read this year. The most depressing novel I've read this year.