So Much Blue (by Percival Everett)

Finally, a winner from this year's Tournament of Books! Percival Everett has apparently written dozens of novels, but I'd never heard of him. Where have I been?

This novel centers on an artist named Kevin Pace and opens with hi talking about his giant, secret piece of abstract artwork that he has shown to nobody.  It interweaves three stories: present-day, 30 years earlier in El Salvador, and 10 years earlier in Paris. Kevin has and keeps many secrets in addition to the painting, and as the novel unfolds, we find out what they are and how everything fits together.

I was least interested in the El Salvador storyline, as it seemed a bit less grounded in reality (to say the least). But I loved how the strands came together in the end; to me, it really worked. Kevin is an interesting narrator who I sympathized with in spite of myself. The writing itself is beautiful. I'm interested in checking out more from Percival Everett and seeing how this does in the ToB.