Protagonist

The unnamed protagonist functions as the titular “everyman.” He is male and was born in Newark, New Jersey to Jewish parents. As a boy, he helps run errands for his father’s jewelry business. As an adult, he works in advertising as an art director and then as a creative director. He has three marriages throughout his life and commits infidelities during each of them. He has children with his first two wives. The protagonist’s true passion is painting, but he works in advertising in order to have a steady source of income with which to support his dependents.

The novel chronicles the protagonist’s life in a nonlinear fashion, giving special focus to his family relationships and the physical ailments he experiences throughout his life. The protagonist is hospitalized for a hernia as a boy and then for other medical conditions at multiple other points in...