Hari Kunzru’s new novel Blue Ruin is about peril and the volatility of the contemporary art world. But, it is also about return. Like a snake consuming its tail, present ingests past and a man is confronted by the life he once lived and left behind. Kunzru is a master of seamlessly blending art, current affairs, politics, and the ontology of existence.
Set against the backdrop of the coronavirus, this is a story that successfully preserves space from current events while remaining poignant and relevant. The result is a novel that is timeless, rather than temporal. Jay was an artist once, in his youth, but the London art vanguard gnawed him to shreds. He chose to leave the art world behind and travel, pulling up any roots that might gain traction and give him a sense of home. Years later, struggling and in poor health, he is delivering groceries during the height of the pandemic to a secluded manor in upstate New York. He is a concave shadow of his former self— he lives in his car, having been evicted from his derelict studio after getting covid, and works various gig economy jobs to stay afloat.
Pulling up to his next destination, seats damp with bags of melting salmon and yogurt, Jay’s past bolts out from the shadows to strike. Standing on the porch is Alice, his lover and muse from 20 years earlier. Alice left Jay for Rob, a fellow artist, and they married, living out a moored, rational existence while Jay journeyed the globe, attempting to fill the hole of her absence with experience and time. Jay is weak recovering from the virus and overwhelmed by the sight of Alice that he collapses. She decides to hide him in the guesthouse on the edge of the property and over the course of the next several weeks, Alice keeps Jay a secret from Rob, and the former lovers take walks in the woods and discuss art and existence. Ultimately, Alice is just a detour on Jay’s path, no matter how much he wishes she were the destination.
Blue Ruin is a beautiful love letter to the quiet moments and purity of human connection. It pricks you with sentiment and nostalgia and is refreshingly grounding.