Erasure

 Erasure by Percival Everett, 280 pages.

Thelonious "Monk" Ellison is an English professor who writes impenetrable literary novels, which are frequently rejected not only for being impenetrable, but for not being "black" enough, a maddening criticism for Monk since they weren't meant to be addressing his race at all. The runaway success of the exploitative debut novel "We's Lives in Da Ghetto," his own stalling career, and a personal tragedy all push Monk to the edge, and in a fit of rage he writes a parody of the exploitative fake-ghetto genre that seems to be thriving. When the book turns out more successful than all of his other work put together (and being taken completely at face value), Monk is forced to reckon with his new place in the world, and the false identity he's constructed to reach it. 

I saw the movie adaptation of this book (American Fiction) last year, and when I found out it was based on a book I was instantly curious about it. I think this is another case (much like Cloud Atlas) where the book and the movie are very different, because each fully leans into the strengths of their medium. This is a complex, layered book. I feel certain I missed a lot of details of what Everett was doing, but even so there are elements that I will be thinking on for a while yet. The structure was sort of experimental and interesting, Monk was a compelling protagonist (if not necessarily a likable one), and the whole novel feels like it comes together into something greater than it's parts. It's easy to see why this author won the National Book Award for his most recent novel. I would recommend this thoughtful book widely.