Like The Public Burning (1977), this novel features a broad cast of generally thinly developed characters. This is appropriate, for one issue of the book is the characters' superficiality. It is also effective because Coover narrates the novel from Gerald's point of view, and for a narcissist like Gerald, others exist as extensions of the self. He therefore categorizes most people; his wife is "Betty Crocker," who vacuums and cooks while a bizarre party goes on; he can accept that Alison, the woman he has been planning to seduce, has been gang-banged and regrets that she may not like Gerald so much in the future; he can put his best friend Vic out of his misery with little regret, despite the fact that the cop shot Vic when Vic threatened Gerald because Gerald had sexual relations with Vic's daughter.

The one character who is not a projection of Gerald's...