Even though I have a lot bad to say about this book, our book club had a very good discussion about it. Turned out there was just a lot to say. Early on, I thought the author was taking sort of a dour, pessimistic attitude toward families, marriage, education, and life in general. I hoped there would eventually be some lovely moment to hold on to, or some tenderness in at least one of these dysfunctional relationships, but even at the end it was completely unromantic and unsentimental. Nothing. I feel sorry if this is the world Richard Russo lives in.

I think if there's a moral to this story, it's got to be this; "being smart doesn't necessarily make you wise". These educated people didn't seem to have any tools or common sense about making good decisions or living happily. And they ALL had terrible language. I usually don't mind if a character has a favorite bad word that they say. It makes them a character. But all of these so-called "educated" people used the same one bad word over and over until I was just irritated.

As their marriage broke up, this sentence appeared; "His unhappiness had exhausted her and she was just relieved to not have to deal with it anymore." I felt the same when I finished this book.