Originally written in 1959, it was not published until 1975. It is one of the author’s dozen novels that do not belong to the science fiction genre.
The novel portrays a bitter and complex marital conflict in the rural area of San Francisco Bay during the 1950s. The protagonist, Jack Isidore, does not see the world as most people do. According to his brother-in-law Charley, he is a “crap artist” obsessed with his own theories and eccentric ideas, which he carefully records in his many notebooks. He is so ill-prepared for real life that his sister and brother-in-law feel compelled to rescue him. Indeed, penniless, Jack ends up moving to his sister’s farm, where he enjoys doing household chores and taking care of the livestock. There he joins an apocalyptic religious group that announces the end of the world.
But although Fay and Charley Hume present a happy face to the world, they prove to be just as detached from reality as he is, driven by obsessions that are only slightly more acceptable than Jack’s, but far more unpleasant. Jack’s sister is a difficult and controlling woman who makes life miserable for those around her. She has an extramarital affair with a young student while her husband is recovering in a hospital. And since the end of the world does not occur, Jack decides to seek psychiatric help.