Ok, so Rules of Engagement is not an action-packed novel, it is moving nonethless. Previous descriptions of Elizabeth and Betsy are accurate, and the reason they deserve Brookner’s skilled description and dissection is that so many people, not just women, are just like them. They arrive at middle age not knowing how exactly how their early decisions determined the course of their lives.
This is a reflective, analytical, beautiful novel that reveals much about life to those who read to the end.