Book review: Tim Parks amasses the thousand little things that show the death of love
The British novelist’s new work is like a collection of connected short stories, some of them breathtakingly good, that chronicle the decay of a marriage – but where is the wife of the title?
by Tim Parks
Harvill Secker
There are moments in Thomas and Mary, Tim Parks’ fictional exploration of a 30-year marriage, that will make anyone in a long-term relationship wince.
The second chapter, for example, simply documents bedtimes in the household over the course of a week. On Monday at 10.30pm, Thomas is on his laptop, Mary chatting on Skype. “If he is going to work all night, I may as well go to bed,” she thinks, and by the time he joins her she is “sound asleep, face to the wall”. On Tuesday, Mary takes the dog out for a late walk. “I may as well go to bed,” thinks Thomas, and by the time she joins him he is “sound asleep, face to the wall”. And so it goes on every night, small rejection heaped upon small rejection, each one making it more difficult for either spouse to break the cycle.