This isnt much a novel as a character study on a single man, the narrators father, as he messed up the lives of everyone around him includying himself. The author writes about the abuse he and his family suffered because of his father. The consecuences it had when he was a kid and how that carried on into adulthood. And also how he treated the mother, which i think its the most compelling part of the book. But also explores the reasons why the father ended up the way he was.