The Full Catastrophe

Flaky, amiable Jeremy Cook, the linguist Carkeet introduced in Double Negative , leaves the ivied halls of academe for the closer confines of a suburban home in this wrenching yet often exhilarating examination of a troubled modern marriage. When the Wabash Institute in Indiana folds for lack of funding, Jeremy slips into a job in Saint Louis, Mo., with the Pillow Agency, a zany marriage-counseling service. His assignment is to move in with Beth and Dan Wilson and, by observing their interactions, help them decide if their marriage can be saved. Jeremy insinuates himself into the Wilsons' daily activities. His relationship with the couple and their game 10-year-old Robbie is at once intimate and distant, definitely a seat-of-the-pants proposition, but his training as a linguist serves him, and probably the Wilsons, well. Carkeet's premise is fresh, his characters utterly winning and his comic observations full of affection for those caught up in the complex confusions of love. Laugh-out-loud scenes and swift, convincing dialogue mark this lunatic look at serious issues; the conclusion may be irresolute, but all the more believable for that. Literary Guild alternate. (Feb.)