What is the theme in A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick?

The unpredictable nature of humanity is another theme in this book. The phrase "such things happened" occurs several times throughout the narrative, always at occasions when the characters have had an experience that has surprised them and/or awakened them to new possibilities and triggered new discoveries in themselves, about each other, or about the world. These discoveries can be positive, as in the end of the novel, or negative, as in the resolution of what happens to Alice. With each appearance of this motif, or repeated verbal image, the novel seems to suggest that even that which has seemed unchangeable or necessary has the potential to become something other than what was perceived to be immutable or locked in place.