Point of View

The story is told from the first person, past tense point of view of narrator and protagonist Rich Fischer – or, more specifically, the point of view and perspectives of a middle-aged white man going through what is often referred to in popular culture, and in psychological terminology, as a mid-life crisis. In general terms, a “mid-life crisis” is a point in a person’s life, perhaps lasting years, in which the energy and activities and priorities of youth begin to transform into the lower energies, slower or routine activities, and differing priorities of maturity. In Rich’s case, this last is particularly important: the plot of the novel is focused on his struggles to reconcile with the youthful priorities of career success and sexual indulgence which, in his experience, have been replaced with what he sees as the often constricting priorities of family and monogamy...