Sex and Love

Sexual and romantic attachments are highly prominent elements of the narrative, and the novel seeks to aptly demonstrate the inherent complications therein. For example, Benson and Mike’s relationship is defined by simultaneous dynamics of intimacy and distance. At the beginning of the main narrative, Benson and Mike have been together for about four years and have built a solid relationship. However, the foundation of their relationship has become shaken by increasing tension. In one telling line of narration, Benson states, “Even after we started throwing furniture at each other, Mike always brought back food from his job [for us]” (49). This sense of tenderness and distance persists throughout the novel, both during the main storyline and in the novel’s many flashbacks. In these ways, the novel seeks to reflect the love and tension that often define romantic entanglements.

The dissolution of Benson and...