"Boredom" is interesting in the same way all Moravia books are: first person narratives that are intensely reflective, somewhat unreliable, usually in denial or self deluding and obsessed somehow with the recognition, adulation, love or approval of others. In this case a painter of no consequence gradually develops an unhealthy obsession with a young woman that accelerates as his desire grows. Overlapping Dino's sex life and emotional dislocation is a second story of his bourgeois hypocrisy where he pretends to be a down and out painter solely dedicated to his craft, repeatedly evoking his hatred for money and wealth.And yet Dino describes the threadbare homes and clothes of those he comes in contact with the distain and a vertigo inducing look straight down on those who live as they do without choice. Moravia weaves these contradictions so effortlessly that a reader may just accept them until it becomes obvious that our narrator may not be the clear thinking objective person that we first encounter. From that point for me the story grew increasingly interesting as I began to wonder a bit more of what was going on around Dino that we were not seeing and contemplated a bit more about Cecilia, his obsession and the very complex relationship with his mother that's hinted at but left unresolved.This is my fourth Moravia novel after "Contempt (1954)", "The Woman of Rome (1947") and "The Conformist (1947)". I have liked them all. Moravia has very specific characters that he likes to explore and try to understand their unhappiness and obsessions. Even more than "The Woman of Rome" which is a first person narrative of a woman slipping into prostitution this one has a lot sex. Perhaps not the level of detail that saturate more current novels but far more than the typical novel. It's for that reason that I have a bit of a reservation about the 5 stars as the theme is a bit relentless. But as an original and provocative character study is was well worth my time.