i found the friends, those real and maybe not so real to be far more interesting and and their affection for this socially inept man more affecting than the interplay between the main character and his wife. Is this a great love story? i think not. Is this a story of one man's triumph of will over circumstances? sort of. But mainly this is a character study of a VERY complex man, and i for one felt that none of these themes was really given full development in the time alloted.