The Full Catastrophe

A New York Times Notable Book: "A comic chronicle of marital misunderstandings . . . Eccentric, hilarious, wildly inventive" (Los Angeles Times).

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 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 problems with verbal communication and help them—if he can. But as Cook catalogs the Wilsons' missed signs and signals, he becomes increasingly, and unscientifically, involved . . .

"Read this terrific book." —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

"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." —Publishers Weekly