Carl Tiktin

Black, white, Jewish, Christian, rich man, poor man, beggar man and thief all play their parts in Carl TikTin’s Our Marriage Counselor. The novel explores stereotypes, male and female, race and faith, in a complex mix of tortured relationships where neither reader nor character can accurately guess what the right answers will be. A counselor might fall for the wife’s seductive charms, while the husband seduces another woman. Meanwhile the reader is invited to see events through the eyes of each, gaining insight into their public and private lives and intentions. Accidental discoveries and deliberate misleadings combine until more than one marriage or soon-to-be-marriage could lie on the line. More than one career as well.

The story’s told with unsparing detail, anatomical scenes of seduction, pitch-perfect self-analytical dialog, much psychology, and the convincing but not always pleasing voices of far from perfect protagonists. Seemingly the tale of a fractured marriage, the novel soon justifies its title by switching into the story of a counselor. A smoothly convincing sense of place combines with abrasively real characters. Awkward moments, occasional pathos, and sharply observed comedy tell an unflinching tale of modern life—though the reader might flinch. It’s darkly humorous, starkly real, fiercely absorbing and somehow, oddly satisfying by the time it kvetchingly ends. Broken people still have worthwhile futures, and fractured futures can still be worth the pain.

Disclosure: I was given a preview edition and I offer my honest review.… (meer)