In the family way

"Roy, a psychotherapist, and his first wife, Bea, a caterer, are the linchpins of an extended family dispersed through an apartment building on New York's Upper West Side. Around them cluster their four children (two of them Vietnamese twins) with assorted friends and lovers; Roy's next two wives, one of them stolen from a neurotic parent; and Bea's lover (the Russian emigre superintendent), lesbian artist sister, and caustic mother (the landlady)."--BOOK JACKET. "Blending satire and sympathy, In the Family Way takes aim at the social and sexual antics of this confused but clever cast of characters, and the entanglements and betrayals that result as each one seeks love and happiness in the free-for-all nineties. Self-deception is the name of the game; irresponsibility is the subtext; ambiguity is the ruling principle. Couplings and uncouplings abound, while Bea and Roy struggle to redefine the idea of family without giving up the cherished American fantasy of endless self-gratification."--BOOK JACKET.