The Rules of Play

“Nothing happens, much. Then something does. Then nothing again, or—rarely—something else. Then nothing, and so on and so on until it becomes hard to perceive any difference between nothing and something.” That's pretty much how this novel, the author's U.S. debut, proceeds. Walker, a pseudonym for British poet Charles Boyle, gives readers a nameless protagonist who wanders through five days of her life, pondering and committing infidelity and ruminating on her relationship with her au pair, stepson, husband, and, naturally, the very British sport of cricket. The latter bit crops up increasingly, but to diminishing returns with each overwrought parallel between infidelity and cricket. The plot, which revolves around the relationship between the narrator and her unnamed lover, never really moves, and readers are given no reason to care about the characters, of whom the stepson is the best fleshed out. Most disappointing, however, is how frighteningly dull everything is—even the sex. (Jan.)