The rather Victorian adjective "unpleasant" has been applied to this story, much as it was long ago used for the products of Émile Zola and other French naturalists. James certainly tells his story in a blunt fashion, with no illusions about the delicacy or virtue of the Berringtons. The reader can sympathise with neither the oafish husband nor the sluttish wife. Even Laura Wing, the Jamesian central intelligence, is presented as extreme in her horrified reaction to the breakup of this distasteful couple.