For the most part, Seth relies on the cluster of techniques we have come to call "realism." The characters, settings and situations are all presented in such a way that we might expect to encounter them in presentday London. However, the world of this novel is on occasion subtly and artfully distorted by a narrator whose perceptions and disclosures are not always entirely trustworthy. Michael's reliability is called into question by the fact that he appears far more troubled than he is willing or able to acknowledge much of the time. The man we meet as the novel opens is an emotionally stunted one, clinging to a numbing routine as a means of escape from his own tormented thoughts. Like some latter-day J. Alfred Prufrock, he measures out his life in croissants, returning each week to the same bakery to purchase seven, six of which are consigned to...