Taylor's major technique is the nonchronological revelation of the complexity of family relations. There is much irony and much humor in the situations, but the narrator recognizes the humor and irony only in hindsight and conveys it ambiguously. Throughout his literary career, Taylor's technique has remained basically the same, as have his themes, giving the reader the feeling that he is seeing pieces of a life collected in random order and put together much like a large, complicated jigsaw puzzle.