The 2006 black comedy A Disorder Peculiar to the Country, by Ken Kalfus, is one of the more interesting novels set in the post-911 period. The novel starts with a shocking and ironic premise that an unhappily married couple, both of whom narrowly escape the attack on the Twin Towers, rejoice at first at the thought that their spouse may have been finally and expediently taken out of their lives. Unfortunately, this does not prove to be the case, and the ridiculously savage divorce battle rages on through the entire book, including romantic interludes with an FBI agent, a half-baked suicide bombing plan, and an unsolved Anthrax poisoning scare. The book captures the hysterical and unbalanced psychology of the immediate post-911 era in NYC and brilliantly pokes fun at it by examining the impact on an already dysfunctional family. It's an entertaining and engaging mixture of comedy and pathos that is very readable.
For a review of the book from NY Times, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/books/review/Brownrigg.t.html?_r=0
For a review of the book from NY Times, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/books/review/Brownrigg.t.html?_r=0
