Truth and Consequences Book

This novel has been described as a comedy of manners, a campus novel, a tale of double adultery....As far as I can see it, it's a novel about chronic pain and disability, and how they can kill love. In short, the story goes like this : Alan's back problem, first acute, now chronic, has turned him into an irritable, self-centered couch potato. His devoted wife, Jane, is slowly beginning to resent the pressure of being the smiling self-effacing caregiver. Into their lives come the beautiful but egotistical Delia Delaney and her husband Henry. Alan falls for Delia and finds a new vocation as an artist. Jane falls in love with Henry. In the end Jane leaves Alan for Henry. Delia leaves town, only to announce her wedding to a rich older man who can offer her "security". Alan is stunned, then bitter. In the very last chapter, Delia shows up at an exhibition of Alan's work and casually issues an invitation to visit her new home during her husband's absence - and Alan knows that, against his better judgment, he'll accept that invitation and become once more embroiled in the drama that surrounds Delia.

That's the synopsis. But the best drawn character for me is Alan's disability. It's all there : the initial confident belief that this strained back will heal itself in a few days...then a few weeks...then a few months, then the therapeutic odyssea, the multiplying visits to doctors, chiropractors, physical therapists, acupuncturists, herabalists...the failed surgery... the drugs and their side effects. Alan compares his back pain to lizard, clawing and gnawing through his lumbar area. He is slowly becoming a drug-addicted wreck of a man, incapable of sitting down, driving, flying in an airplane. Not only can there be no love-making, there can be no feeling of love, either. Alan is changing, and Jane is changing too. They both feel guilty about being such a terrible spouse, but the disease is the third partner in their marriage, long before Delia and Henry show up.