Jem and Ralph have been together for eleven years, parents for three. In the years since they started their family, stresses have turned their once-loving relationship into a more perfunctory one. Ralph didn't really want children at the time, and agreed to it reluctantly, not putting much of himself into the day-to-day needs of the family. An artist by profession, he mostly retreats to his studio to paint, smoke, daydream. When Ralph tells Jem that he wants to travel from their home in London to visit his friend in California, she's outraged that he would leave her alone with their newborn and three-year-old for a whole week. She finally agrees to his trip, because she can tell he's as unhappy as she is: something's got to change.
The story initially flips from the starting point, back in time a year, and then catches up, showing their history, alternating between their points of view. The book is a full-length rendition of "Can This Relationship Be Saved?" Mulling over the trajectory of the book, is it reasonable? In some ways, it's spot-on. In other ways, I wonder.
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