"The Bradshaw Variations": Switching Roles

I had read and liked novels by British writer Rachel Cusk before, most recently and most notably "Arlington Park" (2007), so when I heard she had published a new novel, "The Bradshaw Variations" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010), I sought it out. It tells the story of a married couple, Thomas Bradshaw and Tonie Swann, and their year of switching traditional gender roles. Tonie accepts a demanding full-time administrative position at her university, and Thomas stays home to take care of their eight-year-old daughter and to spend time on his music. On the surface, everyone is agreeable and all is well, but certain cracks in the marriage begin to appear, as difficult adjustments are made. Family members are more or less supportive, yet some - subtly or not so subtly - cast doubts on and undermine the arrangement. These family members are almost as central to the story as Thomas and Tonie: Thomas' brothers and their wives, Thomas' quirky parents, and Tonie's awful mother and father. These are all vividly portrayed, each with his or her own backstory. There is much talk among them, much analysis, much taking of emotional temperatures. Despite this, for some reason the characters seem a bit bloodless; although the book focuses on a topic that is of great interest to me (gender roles), I found it hard to care very much about the characters. However, Cusk writes very well, the story is mildly enjoyable, and I never considered stopping reading the novel. It does make readers think about issues of family, marriage, and gender.