How to Be Both
by Ali Smith
What it comes down to is that I liked it, but I wasn't blown away. I don't know Italian and I don't know much about renaissance art, so I missed lots of references, and that definitely hindered my enjoyment. I machine-translated the Italian here and there, with mixed results.
I really should have realized earlier that the artists and all the described art are real---it helps to look up the paintings! One of the things I'm taking away from this is that Ali Smith's idea of a handsome man does not intersect with my idea at all.
Could I have spent more time and got more out of it? Almost certainly. But I wasn't really feeling it, and the times when I put in the extra effort were interesting but not rewarding enough to keep at it.
I read it Eyes-Camera order, for the record.