But he could have tipped them off not to attend the show and been humiliated in front of all those people.

That would still have required him to confront the issue, and they would have asked "why?", and he'd have to admit he'd consciously betrayed, in a way, everything he was raised to be. Yes, it was cowardly, but it fits. Didn't he try to get some paints so he could tone down the crucifixions?

He asked Anna to let him.

That would still have required him to confront the issue, and they would have asked "why?", and he'd have to admit he'd consciously betrayed, in a way, everything he was raised to be. Yes, it was cowardly, but it fits. Didn't he try to get some paints so he could tone down the crucifixions?

See I agree that he thought he couldn't tell them. But something really bugged me about him not even tipping them off, or telling someone (his uncle, Yudi Krimsky?) to tell them not to go. I think Heather's on the nose - he wanted them to see it firsthand. So, in my opinion, it was less his inability to tell them not to come, and more his childish and selfish desire for them to see his work firsthand and maybe understand him a little, regardless of its possible humiliating effect on them. It was his needs over his parents'. That's what irks me. But I think I understand it a little better now.

Even if he felt the only way he could communicate this vision was through the paintings, he could have shown them to his parents privately. I just thought that scene, with everyone at the opening going "there they are," was unnecessarily cruel.

Even if he felt the only way he could communicate this vision was through the paintings, he could have shown them to his parents privately.

I thought of that, but they were already scooped up and hung, and the show was Saturday night. He really had no chance to take them to a private showing.

unnecessarily cruel

Cruel, yes, but I don't think unnecessarily. Bloody uncomfortable and painful, but maybe necessary on some level. Maybe it was conscious on some level for Asher. The confrontation occurred on his ground, where he was surrounded by people who supported him when the primary conflict of his life was brought to a head. It may have been the only way he could see of having a chance of surviving.

Well, he had first wanted his parents to come on the Saturday night before the big opening, but then they had the meeting, and had to go Sunday. I also think that he didn't think so much of its effect on them, personally. He knew that they would be upset because it was crucifixions, but he's been putting so much of himself on display at the exhibits that I don't think he realized how much it would upset his parents, not that their son was painting crucifixions, but that he was painting them in a crucifixion. From Asher's thoughts:

It isn't the sitra achra, Papa. It's your son. There was no other way, no other aesthetic mold -- He would not begin to understand. He would hear the word "cricifixion." He would see the crucifix looming monstrously before his eyes.

I don't think Asher really even considered the "Hey, it's them!" aspect of it. I think that's one of the things that happened a lot throughout this book -- Asher really understands people only as they relate to him. He sees the pain that he and his father are causing his mother, but he really says very little about her own ambitions. He understands his father's need to travel only as a corrollary of his own need to paint. He knows that his parents will object to his painting crucifixions, but doesn't really comprehend that they'll object more to being the subjects of those paintings, because he is always, in some way, the subject of his paintings.

What Hil said

I think that's one of the things that happened a lot throughout this book -- Asher really understands people only as they relate to him.

I totally agree with this. And it affects the way the naarative flows. The book felt like authentic first person - without the naarator guessing the thoughts and motives of the characters around him. Like I said before, we had to deduce a heck of a lot just from Asher's descriptions of dialogue and character interaction. Talk about your "show - don't tell" method of storytelling. And maybe the title is saying just that - my name is Asher Lev, and this is my story.

The book felt like authentic first person

Almost claustrophobically so. I kept feeling breathless from his sense of nowhere to turn to resolve the dichotomy of his life.