Lying Low

by Diane Johnson

Relates the events of four crucial days in the lives of four people sharing a rambling Victorian house, "lying low" and harboring secrets not meant to be shared.

Theo Wait, a middle-aged former ballet dancer, and her brother, Anton, have taken in two boarders: beautiful Lynn, who never receives mail or visitors; and energetic and effusive Ouida, a Brazilian student and illegal alien who won't let complicated bureaucratic wrangles and constant fear of deportation taint her vision of America as the land of opportunity. A faked identity, a search for one of the FBI's most wanted escaped prison convicts, and a Brazilian feast that spins out of control kick the plot into high gear.

While each of these characters has been plagued by a sense of impending disaster, the terrible thing they've all been fearing comes from an entirely unexpected direction, shattering all of their lives.

Genres: Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Diane Johnson is an American novelist and essayist whose satirical novels often feature American heroines living in contemporary France. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for her novel Persian Nights in 1988.
In addition to her literary works, she is also known for writing the screenplay of the 1980 film The Shining together with its director and producer Stanley Kubrick.

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a 1970s college grad, I enjoyed this trip down memory lane. It's set in a college town near Sacramento (hint: the author spent time at UC Davis) where disparate types rent rooms in a large house. It's the story of how they reveal their secrets to each other and their landlords.
The seventies details such as the food coop and the casual hitch-hiking are fun to revisit. The downside to this book, as in many other Diane Johnson books, is the ending that climaxes with a cinematic crash. You ask yourself, is this ending really necessary for a book which offers such insightful small details for most of its length?

[Janice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Booooring. I don't know why I have a compulsion to finish books...

[Southern Flower · Rating 3 out of 5]

is there something I'm missing, like some pages? it just left me feeling like it was a waste of my brain cells

[Cynthia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lying Low is about this random group of people that rent a house. You've got the owner of the house, this judgemental old ballet teacher. There's her photographer brother Anton, whose had several broken marriages, and now has a weird crush on Lynn. Lynn is really Marybeth who committed a crime long ago and has lived sn underground life ever since. And Ouida is the Brazilian immigrant trying to stay in the country.

All are "Lying Low" for their own reasons, from the law, immigration, broken marriages, and life in general. If you don't set you're expectations high, you won't be disappointed.

The book was set over 4 days and was less than 300 pages but I was bored throughout the 300 pages. The characters all got on my nerves. I found them all to be either whiny or unrelatable. The plot was so slow although I admit the end was surprising.

[Laurel Deloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

A National Book Award finalist, this novel relates the events of four crucial days in the lives of four people sharing a rambling Victorian house, "lying low" and harboring secrets not meant to be shared. Theo Wait, a middle-aged former ballet dancer, and her brother, Anton, have taken in two... boarders

[John L · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is an unbelievably stupid and poorly-written novel in which all the characters are dysfunctional, paranoid, and question everything they say and do. The only resolution for any of the main characters is that one is caught in a prison escape attempt and blown to pieces. All matters affecting the others are left unfinished and unresolved. Reading this was a terrible waste of time.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of Johnson's older books - set in the late 70's. A group of people live in a house owned by a dance teacher in her 60's. The book takes place over a few days and the focus is the secrets of the various characters. The ending is abrupt and shocking (and unexpected).

[Kat Walter · Rating 1 out of 5]

Incredibly slow and quite booooring. This novel is about four random people living in a large house near a California campus. They are all hiding out—lying low—for different reasons. I wasn’t drawn to any of the characters and the climactic end didn’t justify the journey getting there.

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like all of Diane Johnson's novels, this one is a good read and teaches you more about how and why people behave, or at least, the variety of minds who inhabit this planet.

[Shazia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed two of Diane Johnson's other books - Le Divorce and L'Affaire, both of which address the cross cultural (American in France/Switzerland) experiences, so I was looking forward to this - fun but not stupid. Sadly this is a very different book (although the cover art is deceptively similar). Lying Low tells of four people living in a house in San Francisco, each with their own backstory. None of the back stories are deeply developed, so it is hard to care much for the characters. What plot there is revolves around Lynn/Mary Beth, who is actually a fugitive from actions she took almost a decade a go, but even that plotline takes an extremely long time to develop. I have to say, it is my compulsion to finish books that kept me going, not any strong interest in characters, writing, or what was to happen next. I did enjoy the ending, though, when things finally pick up a bit.

[Stevie Holcomb · Rating 4 out of 5]

As charming as the rest of Diane Johnson’s books, it loses a star basically because it doesn’t really have a plot. Yes, it has a central theme, but no real ending. It feels like I read the middle of a story, so many unanswered questions before and after, that I feel it would’ve been a wiser move to have finished the book completely. However, this was written in the early 70s, and the style of the time was not to have a conventional storyline. I wish I would have known would’ve happened to everyone, but the reading part of it was enjoyable, her prose is so much poetry.

[Petra · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was kind of interesting, but the pace was way too slow.