The narrator gamely practices ''the attitude of the wise wife: implacable detached amusement commingled with dogged acceptance.'' But Dennis' klutzdom assumes a violent bent. He haplessly throws his wife across the room; he carelessly drops a cast-iron skillet that shatters her toe. Soon, our narrator, fearing for her life, begins concocting schemes to preemptively kill Dennis. But can she go through with it?
Where The Dangerous Husband diverges from Fay Weldon territory is that Shapiro doesn't stoop to male bashing. Whether you think Dennis is a monster -- deliberately maiming his wife while pretending to be merely bumbling -- becomes something of a Rorschach test. Edgily mixing wit, surrealism, and suspense, Shapiro delivers a sharp, hilarious parable about marital self-preservation.
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