I...don't totally understand this book. I'm confused as to why this story was told from the perspective of a distant and removed third party that was thrust into the world of a callous and man who leaves his family to become an artist, proceeding to leave all manner of human wreckage in his path until he dies blind in Tahiti. I can't say I really cared about the douche artist guy. I definitely didn't care about the guy that was just following him around, first because the guy's wife asked him to, then because he was just kind of fascinated. I don't know that there's a version of this story that I would care to read, but this is definitely not it.