I'm still having a bit of a William Trevor binge - both his novels and his short stories. And this, his second novel (his first he disowned and wouldn't have republished) is definitely his weakest of those I've read. All the characters are dislikeable, although that didn't worry me, but they often read like caricatures written for jokes which went on a bit too long. It wasn't a chore to get to the end, but I wouldn't recommend it.