TUNE IN ANYTIME

Cooney (Burning Up, 1999, etc.) puts a family into a downward spiral and plants funny, rueful Sophie Olivette at its unquiet center to observe and comment. Her father’s sudden announcement that he’s getting married is the stuff of soap opera to Sophie; he has a perfectly good wife and two daughters already, whom he’s willing to set aside without a thought in order to marry gorgeous, half-his-age Persia, college roommate of Sophie’s older sister, Marley. His betrayals continue when he announces that he is going to sell their beautiful home and everything in it so he and Persia can travel the globe. What of Sophie’s mother? She’s so busy pursuing spiritual matters that she hardly seems to comprehend what’s happening. Marley is still safely away at college, more interested in her new doctor boyfriend than in her family’s imminent destruction. Only Sophie’s solid, stolid classmate Ted recognizes her turmoil and agrees to help her stop her father before it is too late. This is a riotously funny novel, full of unique characters, and sly, unexpected plot turns, but underneath all the comedy is a real story of real people caught up in a rotten situation that is growing worse every minute. Cooney puts the characters through their paces with jaw-dropping alacrity, as they try to cope in the face of nearly insuperable odds. It’s a modern morality play that is full of humor, and never belies its sudsy origins. (Fiction. 12-14)