Grim book about how self-loathing and romantic humiliation can spiral into a violent misogyny. This actually reminded me a lot of Ann Beattie's Chilly Scenes of Winter with the focus on male romantic misery. What's different here though is desperation leads to cruelty and violence rather than resignation. The only time the narrator isn't passively drifting is when he is abusive.

I was a bit mixed on the writing style at first, but I ended up really liking it by the end. The lack of quotes combined with the rambling sentences work especially well with the chapters where the couple is drifting apart.