Frank Ritz is middle-aged, a television critic, ideologically fixated on sex. Although he has been declared the best critic of the year, he is not at all happy. The small provincial town where he lives is not the place of his dreams; he has just turned fifty and, most importantly, the woman with whom he shares his life, Mel, has turned his everyday life into hell. Mel, who is a writer of pornography for women, is also going through a very unpleasant phase of her life: apparently, her biggest problem is Frank, to whom she often and unreservedly declares that she cannot stand his presence. Frank is attracted to the vulgar, submission, and even decadence. Mel considers it sick that Frank tolerates the mistreatment to which she subjects him, and gets involved with repulsive women (many in this book). Even the career he follows is a triumph of masochism. He may badmouth popular culture, but he chooses it. [...]