I find no "fun" in this family dysfunction

In the Fold ****
By Rachel Cusk

"In the Fold" minutely dissects the dysfunctionality of two loosely related upper-middle-class English families in which the principals are mostly 30-somethings. It's one of those books where nothing really happens; rather, things are revealed, slowly, carefully, like layers of diseased tissue peeled away and exposed in some meticulous and cold-blooded autopsy.

That's not to say there isn't a plot--everything builds to a climax in which a cruel financial conspiracy is revealed, though it doesn't come as that big of a surprise, since there have been broad hints about what's going on throughout the book. There's also a fairly long and depressing denouement, the reading of which is sort of like watching the pathologist try to smooth the dead tissue back into place and stitch it up into something the mortician can work with.

The financial conspiracy, however, isn't the family's only malaise and isn't really even what destroys it in the end. Rather, it's a kind of syndrome of modern life that starts with boredom that builds up in hermetically sealed sterile new homes, or in picturesque flats purchased by Mum and Dad. Wives fill their time in material acquisition or the perfection of the body, but eventually tire of that in favor of staging ever more violent little dramas in which they verbally and physically abuse their husbands. The husbands, completely blindsided by the hysterics, simply cringe and curl more tightly until they threaten to implode emotionally. Small children are by turns ignored or forced to watch these histrionics until they begin to stutter or lose the ability to speak at all.

In the end, this is one of the most beautifully written, sometimes even witty, descriptions of a world in which there is no moral compass, no spiritual direction, and hardly any kindness whatever. I'm not sure if it's black comedy, cautionary tale or commentary on modern life. It's almost impossible to put down (I read it in one long sitting), and one of the most depressing books I have ever read.