Hari Kunzru’s ‘Blue Ruin’ examines love and relationships during lockdown

Hari Kunzru’s 2017 novel “White Tears” explored cultural appropriation and toxic White arrogance in a ghost story that took his main characters on a road trip through American blues and history; in 2021’s “Red Pill,” he delved into alt-right paranoia in the Trump era and our sense of reality as the protagonist traveled to Europe and back in a search for himself. 

Kunzru’s new novel, “Blue Ruin,” as the title colorfully suggests, is loosely connected to the other books thematically, but it’s a far different book.