A Disorder Peculiar to the Country

Mar 02, 2009 Mike rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is my favorite 9/11 novel. So far. Why -- why this nasty account of two nasty narcissists involved in a bitter divorce?

I admit to an unhealthy love for characters who behave horribly. When Kalfus recounts how his two protagonists respond to the events of 9/11 with a startled smile (and even, for Marshall, a little jig/dance), thinking that in this shocking tragic event their despised soon-to-be-ex-spouse has perished . . . my eyes twinkle even now at the aggressive inappropriateness of the...more This is my favorite 9/11 novel. So far. Why -- why this nasty account of two nasty narcissists involved in a bitter divorce?

I admit to an unhealthy love for characters who behave horribly. When Kalfus recounts how his two protagonists respond to the events of 9/11 with a startled smile (and even, for Marshall, a little jig/dance), thinking that in this shocking tragic event their despised soon-to-be-ex-spouse has perished . . . my eyes twinkle even now at the aggressive inappropriateness of the behavior. Fictional assholes float my boat; inappropriate behavior makes me all warm and fuzzy.

And there's something gloriously deconstructive about such glee around this event, still somberly addressed in almost all public discourse, or any kind of comic resistance to grim memorial. I recall the comic Zach Galifianakis' throwaway joke -- when asked where he was on 9/11, he always responds "What year?" I don't just laugh at tragedy, snicker at others' pain, chuckle over the death of baby seals and the horrors of illness. A sharp, bitter comedy disrupts the public narrative, provokes a kind of reflection on how we engage. Or at the very least thumbs its nose, drops its pants at the assumptions guiding social interaction.

What Kalfus does exceedingly well here is responsive to such public discourse, which has often reduced the complexity of this history to a certain genre of story: the personal becomes the only way for people to tackle the political. There are some good reasons for such narrative response: we experience 9/11, Afghanistan, the war on terror through our own personal lives. So it makes sense that we’d see narratives of people trying to make sense of “history” (the event, the trauma) in relation to their own personal worlds/understandings.

I read–and mostly disliked–Neil Labute’s "The Mercy Seat" and in his introduction as well as throughout the play he enacts exactly what I’m trying to name above. He refers to his writing of the play, how it ended up revealing something like “the ground zero” in our hearts and between us. And throughout the play, we watch people not very honest with themselves and their intimates grapple–-as dust and ash from the Trade Centers covers everything–-with moral decisions. The events of 9/11 serve as catalyst and context, but in such fictions the terrorist attacks are (merely?) useful metaphors for what ails us. In some instances, there’s a heartfelt earnest sense that 9/11’s tragedy reveals and then perhaps redeems the disconnect of our everyday moral lives. (A film like The Great New Wonderful does this, horribly; Jonathan Safran Foer is up to something similar, but succeeds, regarding the existential pain of love and loss.) Such earnest attention to the self isn’t necessarily bad or wrong or an immoral use of the events . . . or at least I’m not arguing such. But I am struck by how it keeps the narrative centered in the realm of American narcissism.

Even when a fiction criticizes such self-absorbed reactions to 9/11–as in Labute and Clare Messud and some others–nonetheless it strikes me that we are being invited to read the failures of these “selves,” the lapsed or absent morality of these characters–-and, again, 9/11 becomes backdrop and background and banal symbol for these individuals in the fore. We still read the events through the prism of an individualized morality, an individualized sense of psychology, a personal reaction to trauma.

Kalfus does something really damn interesting: he foregrounds this vicious divorce, these two characters behaving horribly, and 9/11–-then the bombing of the Taliban, the collapse of Enron and WorldCom, suicide bombings in Israel, the search for WMD and the invasion of Iraq–-are the background events in each chapter. As the world turns, the characters engage with one another in ways that riff on, resemble, resonate off the geopolitical. Seems like the same thing I’m questioning. . . yet I think Kalfus’ book enacts a reversal, so that the central characters–-these selves-–are the metaphors, the figurative devices which allow us in this narrative to grapple with the ethics and social contexts of global political history. Rather than keeping us stuck in selves, we see these selves as metaphors of an American subjectivity, and the book’s corrosive energies become far more incisively political. For me, and my focus is less on testimony or witness than on historiography (how we represent and understand historical events, as means for shaping our actions and understandings in/of history), Kalfus does something really amazing.

And often bitterly, bitingly funny.(less)

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May 03, 2013 Rand rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: break-up artists

Shelves: good-story-round-characters, historical-fiction, novel, say-tire, shameless-fun, nyc

Moments of absolute hilarity interspersed with the horrific are the hallmark of this tidy little novel which explores a divorcing couple's first year post-9/11.

Yes, it could have been a wee bit better. Kalfus could have extended his narrative frame up to the present in which he was writing. He could have explored (instead of barely suggesting) the levels of intrigue underlying the hijacking of the planes, the general stupidity of making Saddam a scapegoat and the US's complicated history with Bi ...more

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Oct 18, 2007 Meghan Davison rated it 3 of 5 stars

The only other fiction about 9/11 that I've read is Jonathan Safran Foer's "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," which is heartbreaking. And yet it is somehow easier to read than Kalfus' sardonic look at 9/11. It is uncomfortable reading an account of 9/11 that isn't meant to make us sad. It is uncomfortable reading about characters who grieve not for what they lost but for what they wish was lost. It is uncomfortable reading about unsympathetic characters when we want to read about heroes. But...more

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Apr 14, 2012 Davis rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Those who don't easily get depressed, fans of black humour

Recommended to Davis by: No one

Shelves: humorous, pleasure-reads

This book was so close to 5 stars; very, very close. It was so good, for around 170 pages. Then it just got far to depressing for 5 stars. It may be sadistic of me, but I loved both of these neurotic depressed main characters. I was rooting for Joyce and Marshall! I wanted them and their kids to be happpy; that isn't an emotion I normally feel towards fictional characters. In fact, I don't even really like happy endings. But the depression exhibited by these two is just so great, I felt almost c...more

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Oct 22, 2009 Ben rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm a few years behind on my reading, and it's possible that this felt like more of a 9/11 book when it came out in 2006. For my money, though, Kalfus takes marital discord and spins out of it a tale that describes the "breakdown" of recent American society. I put that word in scare quotes because I don't know that it's a genuine devolution so much as a perceived devolution. And it's that gulf of perception that also seems to be the biggest stumbling block between Marshall and Joyce. Oh, for the...more

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Aug 05, 2009 Kinga rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: usa, terrorism, jeez-louise

Sometimes you think “This will be a good book”, and you get quite excited. And then you read it, and it turns out it is not a good book after all. And such is life.

“Disorder Peculiar to the Country” has all the ingredients – 9/11, New York setting and a couple going through a bitter divorce. Somehow, however, these ingredients don’t seem to blend at all. It seems like Kalfus has thrown all the popular subjects at the time – 9/11 World Trade Center, anthrax, Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden here and...more

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Mar 09, 2013 Patrick rated it 3 of 5 stars

Didn’t know anything about this when I picked it up – in fact it was my girlfriend’s choice from the library – so the first thing that grabbed my attention was the admiring puff quote on the back from David Foster Wallace. I don’t know if it was actually from a review of this particular book but whatever. I started reading this book and I enjoyed it. It is an effective, amusing and well-written bit of contemporary literary fiction.

The story is set during and after the destruction of the World T...more Didn’t know anything about this when I picked it up – in fact it was my girlfriend’s choice from the library – so the first thing that grabbed my attention was the admiring puff quote on the back from David Foster Wallace. I don’t know if it was actually from a review of this particular book but whatever. I started reading this book and I enjoyed it. It is an effective, amusing and well-written bit of contemporary literary fiction.

The story is set during and after the destruction of the World Trade Center towers in 2001. Its two protagonists, Joyce and Marshall, are in the midst of a complicated and stressful divorce when it occurs, and the book has some fun with the idea that both were secretly pleased when they (apparently) discover that the other was killed in the disaster. But neither dies – though Marshall comes pretty close – and for the most part they go back to their lives as normal afterwards.

The political atmosphere of those days hangs heavy in this novel, and there’s plenty of expository references to the invasion of Afghanistan, Iraq and the War on Terror. At one point Joyce is preoccupied by the idea that Marshall might actually be a terrorist. Much like the film Burn After Reading, it works pretty well as a tragicomic snapshot of that certain kind of Bush-era nauseated paranoia. It also does something quite clever at the end with all this stuff which I don’t want to spoil.

But there’s also much about this novel which could be effectively transplanted into a simple book about relationships. Joyce and Marshall are gently caricatured in that way that Franzen did so well in The Corrections; we feel appalled that people could act this way, but we can relate to them because the impulses that drive them are so commonplace. There’s a kind of masochistic authorial pleasure in dredging up this stuff and spreading it out in the open for others to see, and there’s no doubt that it makes for fun reading. But I do wonder if it isn’t also the easy way out. It is too easy to laugh at Joyce and Marshall for who they are, but once you’re done laughing I don’t quite know what you’re left with. (less)

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Jan 16, 2008 Mala rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book sounded really promising from the back cover. A divorcing couple stuck together in a tiny apartment who both think the other has died in the World Trade Tower collapse and are disappointed when this isn't the case. The characters were very hollow and I couldn't get a sense of why they hated each other so much. If the author had been able to create more believable characters this would have been a decent book.

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Oct 13, 2008 Mariah rated it 3 of 5 stars

It's hard for me to give this book only three stars because I would have given the first half five. Somewhere in the middle I lost interest and by the end I was discouraged. It's about the best three star book you'll ever read and I would recommend it to most people, but not if you want something full of hope and cheer. Dark, dark and funny. Very funny. Until it isn't funny.

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Jan 28, 2013 Judie rated it 2 of 5 stars

This novel started out full of promise until it fizzled out halfway and became too forced until the very end.

This is a story of Marshall and Joyce Harriman, two people on the brink of a nasty divorce. Each of them thought the other was killed in the 9/11 attacks and both were gravely disappointed when it turned out they're both alive.

The 9/11 tragedy and its immediate aftermath became the backdrop of this tale about a marriage that started crumbling down years before; there's so much hate that h...more This novel started out full of promise until it fizzled out halfway and became too forced until the very end.

This is a story of Marshall and Joyce Harriman, two people on the brink of a nasty divorce. Each of them thought the other was killed in the 9/11 attacks and both were gravely disappointed when it turned out they're both alive.

The 9/11 tragedy and its immediate aftermath became the backdrop of this tale about a marriage that started crumbling down years before; there's so much hate that had it happened in the midst of a different, less catastrophic event, or even with no terrible tragedy at all, it would have been a nasty turn of events between the two of them, regardless.

I was expecting something more but was left wanting -- depth-wise, most especially. I understood the hate that developed into a big kind of, well, hate, but I wasn't treated to even a short narration of why and how. It need not be explained in detail, as some things cannot be explained, sure. However, it's not easy to buy that two people who has two children, who has satisfactory relationship with each extended family, are gainfully employed, can evolve into two people who hate each other so much. Is it supposed to be that way? Because even Marshall cannot explain why they reached that point, and said this:

"If you isolate each of our betrayals and self-indulgences, the mean things we've said to each other, the errors in judgment --- on their own, they're quite heinous. Yet neither of us did anything to the other that wasn't in the context of something else."

Anyway, the story went on relating the events post-9/11 to the Harrimans' divorce progress. Saddam was executed, a fictional account of bin Laden getting captured happened (this was published in 2006; on the Harrimans' front, the divorce was finalized, and each started moving on, slowly but gracefully. There are certain parts which I thought should have been fleshed out more thoroughly -- I particularly liked the instances where both Marshall and Joyce allowed themselves to let go and spiral down into emotional wreckage by doing things they wouldn't normally do, then realize just in time they weren't cut out to be it, or to do it, after all. Thing is, it was scattered in different pages and weren't tied together. They would have made the characters more worthy of sympathy because really, a marriage who ran its course, hatred flying all over the place, threats of terrorism and bio-chemical warfare, financial meltdown...what's not to feel bad about? However, as I said, it didn't happen. Instead, towards the end, it was tied together in a sloppy ribbon to create a more hopeful ending. It felt very contrived. Oh, well.(less)

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Feb 18, 2010 Ben rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-lit

What happens if instead of being happy that your spouse survived 9-11 you are instead disappointed? Ken Kalfus doesn’t pull any punches in his tale of divorce; what proceeds is raw with authenticity, as we inhabit the, only slightly, crazed minds of the two protagonists, and despite their many shortcomings, even feel a little something for them. And each time the perspective changes, and we change our allegiance, we can’t figure out how we ever supported the other, only to switch back again. And...more

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Nov 02, 2009 Candace rated it 1 of 5 stars

I thought this book had potential when I read the description, but alas, it was sadly pointless. Lack of character growth and plot development, coupled with two wholly unlikeable main characters made for a big flop. I was expecting dark humour or at least some sort of story progression but found neither. The author's writing is decent, he just doesn't seem to use his talent to accomplish anything. There was one scene in particular that was utterly gratuitous - even more so than the rest of the b...more

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Jan 04, 2012 Noel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: american, fiction, satire

Kalfus offers an incredibly astute and startlingly clear view of American life. The pangs of divorce have never been better described, from the piecing together of events in a child's mind to the absolute silence of parents. [return][return]But it's the backdrop of 9/11 that amplifies the book's themes, and makes it a bittersweet allegory for how divorce is an assault on the bulwark of culture: Marriage. Parallels abound in the book, between global actions and the disputes and maneuvers taken by...more

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May 27, 2011 Maggy rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is an excellent 9/11 novel, I don't think I liked it as much as Falling Man but it's a close one. I like that the author combines political turmoil, financial turmoil, terrorism, and marital destruction. There's a scene near the end of the novel that I didn't quite understand, where Marshall is at a party in Nassau and he's watching a naked black boy. I'm guessing there's a parallel with the 9/11 scene where Marshall attempts to save Lloyd? I'm not quite sure, but apart from that every...more

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Jun 27, 2010 Mary Wagner rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book was supposedly a black comedy, and I must admit that I did not find it to be amusing at all. I also don't feel why anyone would have found it amusing. The book begins with a divorcing couple on September 11th. One works in the trade center, and one is supposed to be on the plane that crashes in PA. I guess the humor starts that both the man and the woman hoped that the other had perished. I'm not sure I see why anyone would find that humorous. The book continues to present two extremel...more

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Feb 18, 2010 Noah rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book is trying to be darkly funny throughout and almost never succeeds. More importantly, way too much of the book takes place in the heads of its two main characters rather than in dialogue or in them living life. I'm sure that was sort of the point, and the one positive of this book is how well Kalfus paints a portrait of modern self-obsession, but he does it at the expense of everything else. There's a real lack of story. The reviews of this book are all glowing, though, so maybe fiction...more

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Oct 30, 2009 Bonnie McEwan rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book was supposed to be a dark comedy, but mostly it was depressing. I guess I am not ready for dark humor about 9-11, vicious divorces, or children in sexual situations. There was one funny moment that I can recall. The husband in the middle of a divorce walked in on his soon-to-be-ex-wife with a bomb strapped to his chest, yelled out, "God is Great", and pulled a string. When nothing happened, the wife tried to help him with it, criticizing his bomb-making skills all the while. The conver...more

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Jan 20, 2011 Matte Sideburns rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The best comedy tells the truth utterly.
When I read the premise of this book, I knew it was for me. That somebody had written a book that "lampoons" (to use the blurb's word) America's war on terror and it's effect on American lives thrilled me. Marshall and Joyce are going through a bitter divorce when each survives 9/11, he by arriving late for work in the World Trade Center, she by missing her flight on United 93. They're each ecstatic to think the other has died, but then life, and the negot...more The best comedy tells the truth utterly.
When I read the premise of this book, I knew it was for me. That somebody had written a book that "lampoons" (to use the blurb's word) America's war on terror and it's effect on American lives thrilled me. Marshall and Joyce are going through a bitter divorce when each survives 9/11, he by arriving late for work in the World Trade Center, she by missing her flight on United 93. They're each ecstatic to think the other has died, but then life, and the negotiation of their divorce, goes on.
In the age we live in, it's almost surprising that Ken Kalfus wasn't hanged for treason, such is the sacredness of these particular cows. Americans are patriotic to the point of baffling the rest of the western world and these subjects are still close to home. Published in 2006, the wars in this book are still being fought, in both the personal and political arenas. The brilliance of this book is in how it relates the two.
I laughed often during this book, but was just as often touched by the humanness of it's inhabitants. Kelfus's remarkable wit and precision in dealing with issues such as ethnic relations, interrogation techniques, patriotism, human degradation or our responses to tragedy never got in the way of my engagement with the characters, their strengths and frailties.
At times surreal, the world of this book is always true. What makes people be spiteful, compassionate, lonely, vengeful, tender, frustrated, perverse, lustful, determined, petty or proud? The capability of these feelings connects us all, and connects the characters in this book with the rest of the world in the historical moment that they, and we, live in. They continue to live and make sense of their world, making the best of things with the hope of reaching happiness. Or at least a settlement that isn't entirely bad.
But is it possible for things to be resolved cleanly after so much has happened along the way? Is peace, of any kind, possible? Or are happy endings confined to fiction's realm?
In my opinion, you're either with this book or you're with the terrorists.
(less)

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Nov 24, 2010 Graceann rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: general-fiction

This is such an interesting premise for a novel, and something that I admit I wondered to myself. What about the people who, on 9/11, were disappointed that their spouses survived the attacks or missed their flight? As ugly a thought as it is, there must have been people here and there who were stuck in miserable relationships, or in the midst of ugly divorces, who would have viewed this monstrous day as a stroke of good luck.

That's not a pretty concept, but given the sheer scope of the calamity...more This is such an interesting premise for a novel, and something that I admit I wondered to myself. What about the people who, on 9/11, were disappointed that their spouses survived the attacks or missed their flight? As ugly a thought as it is, there must have been people here and there who were stuck in miserable relationships, or in the midst of ugly divorces, who would have viewed this monstrous day as a stroke of good luck.

That's not a pretty concept, but given the sheer scope of the calamity, it is a plausible one, and it is the leaping-off point for A Disorder Peculiar to the Country. Joyce and Marshall are in the process of divorcing, and they loathe one another. He works on the 86th Floor of the World Trade Center, and she's due to catch Flight 93 to San Francisco. Her flight is canceled, and he escapes the Towers. Neither of them is pleased to see the other come home. (I'm not giving anything away here; this happens in the first ten pages and is told in the jacket blurb.)

How their survival, their obvious PTSD and how it affects the divorce battle provides the crux of the story. As ridiculously as they behaved prior to 9/11, some of their actions afterwards are positively inexplicable. As is usual, they don't notice that their kids are far more aware of what's going on, and are far more astute about the consequences. These are self-involved, selfish, and generally unpleasant people, and it's difficult to find any sympathy for them. As I looked in at them from the outside, however, somewhat as if I was looking at a zoological exhibit, I found them fascinating.

This novel was thought-provoking and largely well-written. The reason for four stars rather than five is that there were some scenes that had no bearing on the story that I could see, and were just wasted space. One, where Marshall attends a rather strange party, was particularly extraneous. Overall, however, the story gave me some uncomfortable things to think about, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.(less)

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Jun 17, 2012 MJ Nicholls rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, merkins

Marriages will always fail unless one sex agrees to be slightly less dominant. Otherwise:

Where did you leave the car keys? ON THE TABLE WHERE THEY ALWAYS ARE. Where did I put my hat? IT’S ON THE HAT-HOOK WHERE IT USUALLY IS. What should I wear tonight? DON’T BE STUPID JUST WEAR BLACK TROUSERS AND DON’T PUT ON THAT CARTOON TIE YOU’RE NOT A CLOWN. Do I have time for a quick pee? NO WE HAVE TO GO NOW, YOU SAID YOU’D BE READY AT FIVE EXACTLY. I forgot to pick up the potatoes. OH THAT’S GREAT NOW WE...more

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May 14, 2010 Alan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Alan by: ben mullins; mike reynolds

Shelves: novels, read-in-2010

I alternately loved this book and was slightly bored by it. Strange combination. It is stuffed with fantastic scenes, brilliantly executed, starting with 9/11, the protagonist being caught up in it in the WTC, his wife secretly pleased he might be dead. There is great satire too about the state of marriage and the state of the country: the pettiness of divorce (the coffe maker), these people are ruled by lawyers about what they can and cannot say, having to stay together but ignoring each other,...more I alternately loved this book and was slightly bored by it. Strange combination. It is stuffed with fantastic scenes, brilliantly executed, starting with 9/11, the protagonist being caught up in it in the WTC, his wife secretly pleased he might be dead. There is great satire too about the state of marriage and the state of the country: the pettiness of divorce (the coffe maker), these people are ruled by lawyers about what they can and cannot say, having to stay together but ignoring each other, the wrangling of concessions; after the tension of 9/11 and anthrax scares (another beautifully done, funny section) the relief of war is felt by all - much of the country it is implied, certainly many of the cast. In the marriage too action would be welcome, stifled as they are, and there is a wonderful scene in the kitchen of their apartment with all the family where finally some action is taken, a line crossed. I don't want to give away too much about why but it dovetails beautifully with the war/terrorist theme. An utterly fantastic scene, so full of ironies and different levels of feeling and humour and terror, funny and profound and heartstopping, it truly gives the book a deep resonance and almost makes the book 5 stars on its own. There are other great scenes too but sometimes they feel gratuitous - they don't seem to add (to me) to the core of the book, rather take away - the wedding/chuppah farce for instance didn't do much for me (although it was good to hear an alternative take on the Middle East question at the 'stag' do), neither did the sequence in what seems an addendum where the husband goes into a bar and ends up at a druggy party. Handled very well again, full of tension, sexual power-play but I didn't get its point, how it integrated into the narrative as a whole (probably me). The characters seem there sometimes just to make points, eg the financial stuff (the husband tries to lose his wife's money by investing in crap but of course it performs very well and he makes her richer). I suppose that’s because it’s satire and the characters function that way.

One thing puzzled me – it seemed to be following the course of real events, 9/11, the invasion of Iraq etc, but then it veers off into fictional ‘history’ (again I don’t want to give the game away) – quite OK I suppose but for me it cast a strange light back on the preceding events in the novel.

So, um, great but not great. Certainly glad I read it, I think there’s a brilliant five star 100 page novella buried within.
(less)

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Sep 14, 2010 Greg rated it 3 of 5 stars

I started out really liking this--the chilling opening sequence on 9/11, the swing and snappy confidence of the writing, the sobering drama of a marriage unraveling at the same time as the nation, and how Kalfus skewers the way so many people reacted to 9/11 with a false or inflated sense of victimhood. It reminded me of that episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm where Larry David is told by a rabbi that his son was killed on 9/11. When he reveals that it was in a bicycle accident in Midtown and not i...more I started out really liking this--the chilling opening sequence on 9/11, the swing and snappy confidence of the writing, the sobering drama of a marriage unraveling at the same time as the nation, and how Kalfus skewers the way so many people reacted to 9/11 with a false or inflated sense of victimhood. It reminded me of that episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm where Larry David is told by a rabbi that his son was killed on 9/11. When he reveals that it was in a bicycle accident in Midtown and not in the towers and their aftermath, Larry scoffs, and as the rabbi's anger rises, Larry blurts out in disbelief, "Uh, I'm sorry--I guess I didn't realize that was part of the tragedy!"

Sadly the novel gets more uneven as it goes. For one, there's little foundation to the seething hatred between Marshall and Joyce. Their relationship, when it was healthy, is summarized in a few lines about young and passionate love, and the fault lines of their downfall are essentially chalked up to issues like money and differences over child-rearing, and never truly revisited. And then there's a scene in the second half of the book where Marshall, completely unhinged and having heard about a horrific suicide bomb in Tel Aviv, actually creates a suicide bomb in an attempt to blow up Joyce and his two young kids. It's so implausible (as is Joyce's level-headed reaction to it) that it's not only ridiculous, but a seriously disappointing gag in what otherwise can be a very strong novel--a National Book Award finalist, no less.

What I also couldn't get over was how Kalfus wraps up by re-imagining a happy outcome of the Iraq invasion and a tidy conclusion to the war on terror. I guess he wants you to think that, as the NYT review noted, "The dream of a happy marriage may...be equally far-fetched as the political fantasy of a world made better by war." In that vein, the last line of the novel is one of the most cynical you'll ever read. The book's a bitter pill, one that tastes the worst when it bursts in the end.(less)

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Aug 20, 2007 Brynn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: summer2007

"This civilization comprised Barneys, the Times, MetroCards, a raven-haired woman in tears standing in the street hailing a cab, yellow cabs, mojitos, divorce lawyers, and Derek Jeter, the elements in constant commotion and collision with each other. It was a civilization defined by the phenomenon of collision and consequent phenomena: he was in collision too, with every unfamiliar face and sight that presented itself on the sidewalk, each encounter generating another observation, thought, or id...more

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Jul 26, 2009 Caroline rated it 3 of 5 stars

9/11 and the Iraq war serve as the setting for a black comedy about a divorce. 2 solipsistic New Yorkers are calling it quits, and parallels are drawn with the state of the country. Initially, this works very well, but - No spoilers - it ends with a bizarre scene that cheapens the whole. While there were very funny moments - overall, it was a whimper. I don't need to find characters sympathetic, but it is hard to stay engaged when they are so very pathetic.

33/52/2009

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Jul 29, 2011 Brad rated it 4 of 5 stars

i picked this book up off of the shelf while on vacation based only on the fact that it was one of the national book award finalists a couple years back... and have to say i was so pleasantly surprised. the sory is of two characters who are in the process of an acrimonious divorce, and though i could not empathize with either character, the book was incredibly well written and i found myself tearing through it. makes me want to read more by this author.

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Jan 25, 2009 James rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

A very good, but flawed novel from Ken Kalfus. His attempt at black comedy has a few moments that work. Aside from that the novel fails to give the reader sufficient reasons to continue reading. Thankfully, it is short and, as a result, I was able to make it to the end. The author gets points for trying, but he ultimately fails to achieve the excellence he demonstrated in his previous novel, [The Commissariat of Enlightenment:].

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Sep 25, 2011 Hani Omar rated it 4 of 5 stars

A searingly-almost troublingly-sardonic treatment of 9/11 as the cultural backdrop to the remarkably poisonous end of a Brooklyn marriage. Though Kalfus may have failed to flesh out the motives of the two principle characters (both of which he has rendered almost painstakingly despicable), he accomplishes the rare feet of producing a work as much disturbing as it is gripping. Pages will turn, and heads will shake.

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Feb 17, 2008 Shawn rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 29, 2007 Graham rated it 4 of 5 stars

Insensitive woman and obsessively vindictive man make each others' lives hell while getting divorced in post-911 Manhattan.

It is not a cheery book, but Kalfus carefully connects the flaws of each character to their random misfortunes and the seemingly forgivable ways in which they cope with them. The precision of his writing reminded me of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

I didn't make the connection immediately, but Kalfus' earlier book The Commisariat of Enlightenment is about characters brought togeth...more

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Sep 24, 2007 Christine rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is all about destruction, and I came away from it feeling like the only thing you can really count on is that if human beings are given a chance, they will f**k things up. The story begins on the morning of September 11, in New York, and the main couple is in mid-divorce. The characters were bitter and sad, and the ending changed pace and tone completely from the rest of the book.

But still I gave it four stars....I think because I thought about it a lot while I was reading it, when I...more

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title link	preview: A Disorder Peculiar to the Country
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54572.A_Disorder_Peculiar_to_the_Country?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347549769l/54572.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54572.A_Disorder_Peculiar_to_the_Country?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]A Disorder Peculiar to the Country by Ken Kalfus[/url]

A Disorder Peculiar to the Country

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