I loved the cover of this novel. I loved the premise. I loved specific quotes. I did not love the book. I saw a review that said something to the effect of "grant me the self-confidence of a mediocre white man" and that about sums it up.

This novel was both unexpected and hilarious. I enjoyed the author's style of writing. There is an effective way to make such an unlikeable hero actually sympathetic and Dunthorne achieves this. I noticed a similar style with his previous book, Submarine.

If you're looking for sympathetic or likeable characters, you won't find them here, at least not with the main character and his equally insufferable wife. Upon finding that his spouse is seeing another man, the main character sets himself on a path of dwelling upon what went wrong in his life and how his self-involved attitude ruined his marriage and most of his friendships. Even though the plot is interesting and often humorous, the ending gives no real chance or time for character growth, and it just leaves a sour taste for readers who were seeking a more circular story.

I was left feeling strangely unfulfilled - which may very well be the purpose of this book. Quirky, offbeat, fun in equal measures I expected it to veer off in a completely different direction than it ended in. Not quite swingers, not quite the grass is greener. Karma? Do you get what you have coming in the end? Felt the main character got he short end of the stick!

I tried. The first pages of this were interesting and a chuckle but then I put it down and when I went back to it, I just found everyone irritating. I did not, contrary to the blurb, find myself rooting for Ray. Ultimately, I put it down again and I DNF. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

I rarely find a book that I will literally 'laugh out loud' reading, but this one did the trick more often than not. The jacket blurb calls Dunthorne a 'British Dave Eggers', but I'd say the more apt comparison is to Tom Perrotta - and this bears more than a little in common with 'Little Children' in its dissection of screwed-up (and screwing around) suburban young marrieds. The book never quite went where I was expecting, and that teeter-totter quality certainly added to my enjoyment. I COULD have done without some of the more gruesome details of the caesarean section late in the book, but even that had a few laughs amongst the grossness.

My sincere thanks to Netgalley and Tin House Books for the ARC, in exchange for this honest review.

Found this hard to relate to. What a mess of childish relationships for people in their mid to late 30s.

I did feel a bit bad for Ray, he certainly got the short end of the stick here. Not a bad read but not a good read either.