TONIGHT: Ken Kalfus at the Brookline Booksmith

KEN KALFUS’s latest black comedy pegs the September 11 fallout against the consequences of small-scale domestic terrorism — better known as the nasty urban divorce. A Disorder Peculiar to the Country follows Joyce and Marshall Harriman as they sue for custody of their two children and their Brooklyn Heights co-op. Both are required to live there till a settlement is reached, so it’s no surprise that when the planes hit the World Trade Center, each rejoices in the possibility that the other has perished. As America struggles to save face and fight back, so do the Harrimans: seducing best friends, sabotaging weddings, faking anthrax scares, etc. Kalfus sweet-talks a national disaster into an intensely funny family portrait, and he reads and signs at the Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard St, Brookline | 7 pm | free | 617.566.6660.