A Disorder Peculiar to the Country begins on 9/11, and finds Marshall and Joyce Harriman both luckily escaping death that morning, but finding perverse pleasure assuming the other had died in the terrorist attacks. In the midst of an ugly divorce and both of them refusing to move out of their New York apartment, finding that both survived sends them to an all-out war to destroy the other. Their actions, tapping phone calls, fake antrax attacks, and a possible suicide bombing, mirror outside activities in the country at large. When compromise is not an option, taking no prisoners is sure to cause a lot of collateral damage.
A Disorder Peculiar to the Country is a black comedy from Ken Kalfus (
The Commissariat of Enlightenment) has received mostly positive reviews with the Philadelphia Inquirer saying, "As the events of this book show - especially those involving the Harrimans' marriage - you can know all the history in the world and not grasp why things fall apart. In fact, you can still lose everything."
