The couple’s attempt to consummate their marriage, predictably enough, ends in an embarrassing encounter that will snowball into a far more dire emotional exchange, all of which is depicted by Mr. McEwan in unsavory, voyeuristic terms that are as cringemaking as they are graphic.

Coordinate term: supratrochlear nerve

Behind his barricade of barrels, Sam heard and shivered like a gun-shy collie at a turkey shoot.

I can’t quite get it to work.