Customer Reviews

A Disorder Peculiar to the Country

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I agree with the reviews that label this as 'uneven'. I found both the 9/11 materials and the divorce storyline compelling and the characters interesting; Marshall's breakdown was good stuff. The ending has three baffling elements to it [BRUTAL SPOILERS!], the a) shifting point of view to the daughter (whose tone is not distinct enought to render it believable), b) episode at the party which, COME ON!, does this odd set-piece really fit with the rest of this novel?, and c) the alternate reality ending which effective vaporized much of the rest of the resonance of the book. I stayed up late reading the end of this and was ready to toss it off my deck at the end. As I say, the wheels come off.

Everything about this book was unexpected and revealing. Kalfus shatters our ideas about heroism in the wake of tragedy and shows in hilarious detail how we can't help but be who we are: a nation of self-obsessed individuals who only contend with the world around when our own inner turmoil doesn't get in the way. You have to read this book.

Joyce and Marshall Harriman might be the only two New Yorkers who have a reason to celebrate on September 11, 2001. Joyce was supposed to be traveling in one of the hijacked planes and Marshall worked in the South Tower. Each expects the other to be dead, but out of sheer luck, both of them survive--much to the disappointment of the other, since the couple is going through a bitter divorce. Forced to stay together in the post 9-11 New York, the Harrimans live a nightmare that Kalfus deftly and bravely turns into the blackest of comedies.

The author, in my opinion, makes two mistakes that nearly ruin what otherwise would be an outstanding novel: he makes Joyce a willing participant in Marshall's attempt to stage a suicide bombing in their apartment. That Marshall would be pushed to such an action is believable; that Joyce would try to help him kill himself, her, and their two children is not.

But the biggest mistake is the ending. While most of the novel takes place in a New York that we remember well, Kalfus makes the very bizarre decision to set the ending in a historical background that is entirely fake. It's a shame, because until then I believed the characters (except for the scene mentioned above) and thought they were well set in New York and in that specific and troubled historical time. But when I got to the end, with its bizarre events in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East, I just thought, "huh?"

In A Disorder Peculiar to the Country Ken Kalfus brilliantly explores faith-based hatred unleashed on the battlefield of marriage, and the way public life invades the private. The writing is often very funny about characters whose lives contain little joy but who are nevertheless portrayed with real compassion. This book is a rare achievement.

Ken Kalfus is a great writer. I don't understand where all the bad and so-so reviews are coming from. I found myself laughing out loud throughout almost the entire book. Who cares if the characters were annoying, crazy, or cynical? Don't tell me you couldn't relate to them, or at least know someone like them. This book is so funny because it is so real. The dialogue is spot on.

If you enjoy the writings of Nick Hornby or Jonathan Safran Foer, then I bet you would like this book too.

This is a wonderful and gripping comic novel in which events of recent times (the novel opens on Sept. 11, 2001) are entwined with a bitter divorce battle. The divorcing couple becomes a metaphor for the warring civilizations (they can't even rememebr anymore why they're at war) and just when you worry there's no way to wrap it up coherently, Kalfus comes up with a truly brilliant ending. One of the best new novels I have read in years.

BTW, this has one of the tackiest cover designs I have ever seen. Please DON'T judge this book by its cover.

I absolutely hated this book and ultimately left it on the subway rather than waste my time trying to resell it.

Here are a few reasons why you shouldn't read it:
1) It never even approaches humor. If you enjoy Curb your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld, you might disagree with this point. But I just don't find morally depraved people acting bourgeois or like jerks (respectively) to be amusing. Accordingly, I found all attempts at humor to be grating and rolled my eyes more times that I could recount.
2) You will hate all the characters--apparently on purpose!
3) The "story" is boring, trite, predictable and though filled with lewdness, never rises above the complexity of a tween book.

Here are a few reasons why you should read it:
1) You've read every other book in the world and have some Amazon credit to burn.
2) You hate yourself and are into intellectual masochism.
3) You like getting angry and want something to complain about to friends.

"A disorder peculiar to the country" by Ken Kalfus

Straight off, I want to say I enjoyed the book. I was almost put off reading it by two poorly-written sentences on the first page, but I stuck with this book because I'm interested in the subject matter of post-9/11 New York, of which I've written two short stories myself.

I still have a problem with one sentence in particular, it is clunky and would be forgivable anywhere else in the book except for the first paragraph. I'm still amazed that all the agents and editors and readers who laid eyes on this sentence before publication somehow let it slip through:
She went directly to her office on Hudson Street to sort out the repercussions from the negotiations' failure--and especially how to evade blame for their failure.

Now that I got that off my chest, let me talk about the book without giving away too much of the plot. When we meet the two main characters (Joyce and Marshall Harriman) on the morning of 9/11, they are already in the middle of a divorce. Both think that the other was killed during the attacks, bringing a sense of relief to them; now custody of the two kids, not to mention the pricey condo in Brooklyn won't have to be battled over. The survivor gets everything! Unfortunately, they both survive the attack and have to continue living together until the divorce (which drags on throughout the length of the book) is complete.

Neither character is very likable, as they battle for the upper hand, and for moral superiority during their bitter divorce. Meanwhile, America deals with the trauma of the 9/11 tragedy and the impending invasion of Iraq. The stress and tension of the Harrimans' life together is used as a metaphor for the rising tension of world events, as NY-ers are waiting for the other shoe to drop in the form of...what? An anthrax attack? A suicide bomber? Something unknown?

"A disorder peculiar to the country" is a National Book Award finalist, and though I recommend it, it's not a perfect book. The first page has Joyce returning to her office. Yet we never hear about her work life again. Toward the end of the novel there is a scene with Marshall and some sticks of dynamite that is so absurd I'm sure I must have missed something as a reader, or maybe it existed only in the character's head. I guess this is all symbolism: Marshall is a terrorist and his wife is America, the willing participant.

Just like in a marriage, and a divorce, and war: It takes two to tango.

The book title and the first 3/4 direct the reader to what could be a tremendous and accomplished comment on post 9/11 United States life. At some point -- starting with a crazily gratuitous pseudo sex scene, then a character that drops off the planet of the novel, and a confusing ending -- the author attempts something, though I couldn't figure out what it was. At best, the work moves from an intelligent, funny, and thoughtful work to something self-referential and blatantly ironic. It felt to me like the author chickened out, never really delivering what the title tantalizingly offers up.

This book was a major disappointment.
I'd read a review in the paper about how deliciously dark the characters' acts of retribution against their soon-to-be ex-spouses was and how it all plays out against a backdrop of the days immediately following September 11th. Sounded good. But now I feel mislead.
What we're instead given are pretty ordinary acts of selfish pettiness that likely occur in any number of divorces every day. The acts do escalate, however, but not so much in viciousness as in absurdity.
To top it off, Kalfus is all over the place with confused symbolism - most of the time, Marshall represents the U.S./Israel/Western civilization to his wife Joyce's Iraq/Afghanistan/Islamic people of the world. But that's easily scrapped when Joyce attends her sister's wedding... that just happens to be a traditional, Jewish ceremony. It's Marshall that tries to interfere with the proceedings by stealing one of the religious items needed for the wedding to proceed. In another chapter, Marshall also rails against our country's support of the Jewish state, further damaging the heretofore established symbol structure.
The story's ridiculousness and flip-flopping representations climaxes with Marshall literally strapping a bomb to his chest. That hardly seems an appropriate act for him as a symbol, unless Kalfus is referring to the mistake that was our invasion of Iraq. But I didn't get the sense that that's what he meant, and after reading this mess, I hesitate to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Ultimately, there are some interesting moments and clever insights (provided they're not misinterpretations on my part), but as a whole this just isn't a book that's worth recommending.
...
I just read that this novel was nominated for a National Book Award. My congratulations to Mr. Kalfus, and raspberries to the NBA selection committee.