The book was a story about a family with a closeted gay Dad and a straight Mom with 4 kids. The tragic figure was meant to be the Dad, (who unfortunately was not able to be openly his true self) but the real victim of this story is the Mother. Trapped in a passionless marriage with an unfaithful depressed,(at times) husband. He married her on false pretenses. Why he married a girl was never fully stated nor why he didn’t leave the marriage either when times became more accepting was never fully revealed. I feel that he took advantage of his wife and her feelings for him. I feel he was a repressed selfish individual who was angry, and rightly so, that he could not live a gay lifestyle. In my opinion it was unfair of him to marry and have a family since he was not fully committed. The times he lived in were unfair to him. So he passed on that unfairness to his wife and children? The book left me with a feeling of horrible life regret from the father. Very sad.