Such a Lovely Couple

It is 1972, and Jewish antiwar college student Franny Baskin is wondering why she's accepted a blind date with Michael Wedlan, a 26-year-old Baptist Vietnam veteran. When he turns out to be intelligent, charming, exceedingly handsome and smitten with her, romance blossoms. They marry, but their union begins to fray around the edges when Michael loses interest in his career and confronts a succession of jobs, additional schooling and periods of depression. A litany of the ills of modern marriage ensues: anger, indifference, lack of communication. Finally, Franny and Michael each have an affair, and their shell of a marriage cracks apart. But when Michael develops cancer, apparently as a result of his exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam, Franny and Michael learn to love each other as they never could during their marriage. Yellin has a gift for moving the plot along and imbuing a familiar tale with freshness and humor. But it is in the description of Michael's illness and Franny's response to it that the novel is most affecting and, ironically, most alive. A good read from a promising writer with the wit and verve of Susan Isaacs. (Nov.)