Since the first four decades of her life have passed without any major setbacks or traumatic events, Jocelyn has not been particularly introspective, using her im pressive mental faculties for analyzing the ways of the world. When her marriage (and settled life) suddenly collapses, she is thrust inward, and Donleavy structures the narrative focus of the novel so that it moves inward with her thoughts. The novel begins with a traditional omniscient narration which describes Jocelyn's reactions to the news of her husband's desires and her attempts to maintain a degree of order, interspersed with occasional brief bits of cutting dialogue. Then, as Jocelyn's fortunes decline further, the narration moves closer to the flow of her thoughts, so that a descent into the subconscious parallels the descent from psychic certainty toward mental instability. As a turning point, there is an extended conversation between Jocelyn and Clifford, a man...