The Full Catastrophe - Softcover

Carkeet, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1590203402 ISBN 13: 9781590203408

Publisher: Overlook Pr, 2010

Synopsis

Linguist Jeremy Cook knows how language works, but he doesn't know how marriage works. In fact, he is strangely hostile to the institution. So Cook is naturally uneasy about his job with the Pillow Agency, a St. Louis firm specializing in "the linguistically troubled marriage." His assignment is to move in with Dan and Beth Wilson, a prosperous suburban couple with an impoverished relationship, to analyze their verbal problems and help them-if he can. As Cook catalogs the Wilsons' missed signs and missed signals, he becomes increasingly, most unscientifically, involved.

About this title

Review:

"A comic chronicle of marital misunderstandings. . . eccentric, hilarious, wildly inventive and eerily accurate. . . Read this terrific book." -"The Los Angeles Times"
"With humor and insight, Mr. Carkeet's fourth novel addresses the commonest of social diseases-a failing marriage-with the least likely of therapies: a live-in linguist."-"The New York Times Book Review"
"A feat of literary magic. . . a trove of insights about the way we live and love and bump our heads trying, sweetened by some of the funniest writing since Mark Twain." -Jonathan Kellerman

About the Author:

David Carkeet was born and raised in the Gold Rush town of Sonora, California. He went to college at U.C. Davis and Berkeley, then to graduate school at U. of Wisconsin and Indiana U.--thus the southern Indiana setting for "Double Negative," his first novel. He lived in St. Louis for 30 years, where he set "The Full Catastrophe" and "The Error of Our Ways." He now lives near Montpelier, Vermont, and you can probably guess where he set his newest novel, "From Away." He is married with three grown daughters. More info at davidcarkeet.com.

About this edition

• Publisher: Overlook Pr
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1590203402
• ISBN 13: 9781590203408
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 317