Us by David Nicholls

"Well I can tell you now that married life is not a plateau, not at all. There are ravines and great jagged peaks and hidden crevasses that send the both of you scrabbling into darkness. Then there are dull, parched stretches that you feel will never end, and much of the journey is in fraught silence, and sometimes you can't see the other person at all, sometimes they drift off very far away from you, quite out of sight, and the journey is hard. It is just very, very, very hard."
                              -Douglas Petersen, from the novel

This was an interesting book, but I didn't love it and I certainly couldn't call it a "page turner." It actually took me about 2 weeks to finish it. I will rate it a 3 since I did want to finish it and because Nicholls is an able writer.

The Petersen family is somewhat dysfunctional but seemingly loving at the same time. Husband/father, Douglas, is a biochemist, a driven man lacking in ability to show emotions. Connie is the wife of over 20 years, who suddenly reveals near the beginning of the novel that she wants to end the marriage. Their only son is Albie, seventeen and wanting some independence. Albie and Connie are very close but Douglas has never really bonded with his son. So this is a very brief look at the family who decides to go on a Grand Tour abroad anyway.

The author separates the novel into parts geographically (Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, etc.) and numbered episodes that go back and forth to the time when Douglas and Connie's relationship first began to the present time. I was not confused by the flashbacks at all and the characters were well-developed, even some of the minor ones.  What I found very puzzling was why Connie wanted to go on a month-long trip with the husband she has said she wants to leave. At times she seems very affectionate with Douglas so I just didn't get her desire to be free of him. Albie seems to be very resentful of his father and it takes a near-catastrophe for that to change.

I could describe Us as the portrait of a marriage but don't expect a "happily ever after" ending!