I have no idea how to talk about this book. I will leave synopses aside, others here have done it better...but just say it is the most real book I have ever read. It is more than a stream of consciousness..it is really being inside the head of someone, and their alternative lived or unlived past, present or possible... lives. As I type I can’t describe it...except to say it is beautiful and profound, sad and melancholic, grounding and unsettling...all in one book. I loved it very much. I loved the descriptions of the light in pictures and how painting is an attempt to get rid of things in his mind, how images are painted away and become something that is not just in his mind it out in the world too
Anyway, there is so much to think about in this book and contemplate.
The most excellent review on You Tube is here

https://youtu.be/CkvbZU3VbSQ