The Arrangement

Dunn (The Big Love) again plumbs the messiness and fallibility of romantic relationships in her latest novel. This time, the couple at its center, inspired by rumors of how well such arrangements have worked for acquaintances, embark on an experiment in open marriage, with hilarious results. Lucy, exhausted by caring for the couple’s young autistic son, proposes the test run, and Owen, equally burned out by his uninspiring career, eagerly agrees to abide by the ground rules, which include a strict six-month time limit. Complications naturally ensue, especially when one member of the couple breaks rule number two: “No falling in love.” Owen and Lucy’s misadventures are interspersed with quotes from a fictional self-help guru (and decided monogamy skeptic), as well as with glimpses into the equally imperfect love lives of Lucy and Owen’s friends and neighbors in their idyllic Hudson Valley village. At times these minor characters’ foibles border on the cartoonish, but they nevertheless contribute to an overall levity of tone that helps buoy what could otherwise have become a veritable catalogue of failing relationships. (Mar.)