Booker Prize 2025: ‘The Rest of Our Lives’ is a dull journey with a middle-aged man on a road trip

The Rest of Our Lives starts with the protagonist, Tom Layward, admitting to being cheated on by his wife twelve years ago. He introduces the other man and lays out the reasons for his wife’s infidelity – all ultimately boiling down to a misstep, an affair that his wife Amy never really wanted, evident in how short-lived it was (only three months). Amy comes clean to Tom – she has “highly developed guilt feelings” – but instead of a clean slate, the writing has been sloppishly rubbed off, leaving imprints that superimpose themselves on every memory of the past and visions of the future.

Author Ben Markovits establishes Tom’s defeat from the word go. He is resigned to fate and middle age. The marriage is “C minus” and even aiming for a “B plus” life is an ambition that has little chance of fulfilment. Tom’s resignation is understandable – he has never really come to terms with his wife’s affair and after long years of bringing up the children (the son is in college and the daughter is preparing to leave the nest), he finally reckons with his feelings. Nothing is right at home, and his disappearance, or going on a road...

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