So Much Blue

An unusual and lovely voice. Although many of the plot elements seem farcical—the affair, the entire El Salvador storyline—this is no farce. I found it a sober, compassionate exploration of toxic masculinity. Not the machobullshit type—although there is a little of that—but instead the vastly more common thoughtless, clueless-bumbling male-fantasy variety. The narrator is by most measures a decent man: well-intentioned, self-reflecting; trying to be empathetic, but not quite going about it in the best way. Not knowing any better—or even that there's anything better to know. He screws up in big ways; what he learns, and how and when, that's the story. The three alternating storylines take a little time to get into and that effort is totally worth it.