Set in Toronto during the late 1970s, the narrative centers on a stagnant love triangle between Elizabeth, her husband Nate, and his lover Lesje. Following the suicide of Elizabeth’s previous lover, the characters navigate a domestic environment defined by emotional paralysis and shifting allegiances. Elizabeth maintains a rigid exterior to mask her childhood traumas, while Nate abandons his legal career for toy-making. Lesje, a paleontologist at the Royal Ontario Museum, retreats into prehistoric fantasies of dinosaurs to escape the complications of the present. Their interactions happen against a backdrop of natural history and cold, urban realism.
Readers interested in the psychological dynamics of failing marriages and the intersection of evolutionary history with human behavior find this work significant. It appeals to those who prefer clinical observations of infidelity and grief over sentimental resolutions. The reader gains a stark perspective on how individuals use professional detachment and historical eras to distance themselves from immediate personal pain. It provides a detailed study of how people remain tethered to one another through habit and shared history, even when intimacy has vanished.
Deep, inward-looking, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1979
- Language
- EN
