A Marriage Made At Woodstock

With the 25th anniversary of Woodstock upon us, the perfectly timed release of the novel A Marriage Made At Woodstock may cause some to dismiss it as a commercial rehash of that glorious mud-and-music festival. But Cathie Pelletier is one of those rare writers who, like Anne Tyler, can make a description of a refrigerator into an entertaining and insightful study of human nature. Her fifth novel centers on Frederick Stone, a man who has metamorphosed from a longhaired college poet into a software-obsessed accountant afraid of losing his hair. Meanwhile, his wife, Chandra, has remained true to her student-activist roots. Pelletier risks telling a cliched tale about sold-out ideals, but her quirky voice and highly original sense of humor should keep most readers enthralled. A