Couples is the book that has been called "an intellectual Peyton Place." It has been assailed for its complete frankness and praised as an artful, seductive, savagely graphic portrait of love, marriage, and adultery in America. But be it damned or hailed, it has created a powerful new literary sexual image that no amount of censure can destroy. It is one of those books that will be read—and remembered—for a long time to come.