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The Nowhere City
When his mentor at Harvard University suddenly leaves for Washington, Paul Cattleman finds himself adrift in the wilds of academia. After losing his fellowship, he is out of work and one thesis short of a PhD. Rather than doom his career by taking what he considers to be an unsuitable job, he finds a temporary position at the Nutting Research and Development Corporation in Los Angeles, a city whose superficial charms signal an adventure. He is ready to make the best of his year out west among the beatniks and Hollywood hippies. The only thing holding him back is his wife.
Katherine is a New Englander through and through, and as soon as she steps into the LA smog, she knows this transition will be a struggle. What Paul sees as fun, she considers vulgar. Bogged down by her allergies and crumbling marriage, she seeks out a shrink, who surprises and transforms her. While Los Angeles may be a cultural wasteland, this East Coast girl will find that West Coast pleasures can be quite a lot of fun.
Katherine is a New Englander through and through, and as soon as she steps into the LA smog, she knows this transition will be a struggle. What Paul sees as fun, she considers vulgar. Bogged down by her allergies and crumbling marriage, she seeks out a shrink, who surprises and transforms her. While Los Angeles may be a cultural wasteland, this East Coast girl will find that West Coast pleasures can be quite a lot of fun.
343 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
186 people are currently reading
615 people want to read
About the author
Alison Lurie
63 books206 followersAlison Stewart Lurie was an American novelist and academic. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her 1984 novel Foreign Affairs. Although better known as a novelist, she wrote many non-fiction books and articles, particularly on children's literature and the semiotics of dress.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
February 4, 2022
You should have heard the undignified squeak I let out when I realised this novel was available to me on my usual book-buying website! So I got as soon as I could.
I read this one some years ago, and loved it a lot. I don't know what my view of the story would be now, but I would no doubt notice some things about it that previously didn't stand out to me. But I really want to reread it at some point when I don't have a theme year perhaps... so that may be in 2024?
But anyway, it was a good read back then (maybe 1990s), enough to end up in my Top Books list 8)
I read this one some years ago, and loved it a lot. I don't know what my view of the story would be now, but I would no doubt notice some things about it that previously didn't stand out to me. But I really want to reread it at some point when I don't have a theme year perhaps... so that may be in 2024?
But anyway, it was a good read back then (maybe 1990s), enough to end up in my Top Books list 8)
December 5, 2016
Not even joking, I read this book in a day.
I absolutely loved the shit out of this book.
Granted, I am an overall fan of Allison Lurie's writing, having read several of her novels and nonfiction books thus far. And I will acknowledge that, as someone who herself has experienced the circumstance of leaving a job at Harvard to move to Los Angeles, perhaps I am predisposed to love this book.
But in general, I have to say that she has done such an excellent job capturing the zeitgeist of Los Angeles. Even though the book is set in the 1960s and I lived there in the 21st-century, much is the same because – as they say often in the book – time does not pass in Los Angeles.
One thing I do wonder about, though I am not sure that it is a choice the author would have considered making, is the prospect of her having written the book from a more universally omniscient point of view. I understand the logic behind having the narrative unfold from the limited perspectives of Paul and Katherine's points of view, but I really wish she had delved into the interior perspectives of Glory, Ceci, and Dr. Einsam.
I do also wish she had come back to the portion of the plot which involved the Tylers, Walter Wong, etc. That whole Venice community winds up being a plot device and a red herring, essentially, though it didn't have to be.
I absolutely loved the shit out of this book.
Granted, I am an overall fan of Allison Lurie's writing, having read several of her novels and nonfiction books thus far. And I will acknowledge that, as someone who herself has experienced the circumstance of leaving a job at Harvard to move to Los Angeles, perhaps I am predisposed to love this book.
But in general, I have to say that she has done such an excellent job capturing the zeitgeist of Los Angeles. Even though the book is set in the 1960s and I lived there in the 21st-century, much is the same because – as they say often in the book – time does not pass in Los Angeles.
One thing I do wonder about, though I am not sure that it is a choice the author would have considered making, is the prospect of her having written the book from a more universally omniscient point of view. I understand the logic behind having the narrative unfold from the limited perspectives of Paul and Katherine's points of view, but I really wish she had delved into the interior perspectives of Glory, Ceci, and Dr. Einsam.
I do also wish she had come back to the portion of the plot which involved the Tylers, Walter Wong, etc. That whole Venice community winds up being a plot device and a red herring, essentially, though it didn't have to be.
August 26, 2015
It's hard to find novels about LA that aren't bogged down with cliches. Or novels in which the cliches, at least, are explored in an original way. Carolyn See and Eve Babitz are best at understanding (and then writing about) the uniqueness of the city, to my mind. Though I don't rank The Nowhere City in their league, I do think Alison Lurie wrote a smart, insightful book. An East Coast professor and his wife come to the city for a year while he works on a history project for a research company; he loves LA & she hates it for all the reasons East Coast people always seem to hate LA. Lack of seasons, shallow behavior, casual clothing (the book was published in 1965; I laughed at the complaints about capris) and and and. He loves it because he finds a sense of freedom he's never known before; he also discovers the pleasures of anonymity. But then the book slowly begins to twist. And even though the reader can see some of what's coming, and even though there is a Hollywood starlet and houses built like Norman castles and freeways being built, the pleasure is being along for to the ride. The how is what makes this book so satisfying. The Nowhere City should definitely be on lists that include Fante, West and the like. Not only because it adds substance to the body of literature written about LA but because Lurie is a fine writer - a master of nuance and a terrific satirist.
August 25, 2009
I may be judging this more harshly because I tend to have high expectations when it comes to Alison Lurie. And she didn't entirely disappoint me; her characters are multifaceted creatures and she can write a fabulous sentence. This wasn't one of her better books, though.
"The Nowhere City" is about a 1960s academic couple who moves to LA from New England so he can take a job as a historian for a government company (incidentally, while the book was highly dated it was interesting to see how people thought and talked back then). Paul, the husband, immediately falls in love with LA and begins an affair with a beatnik waitress; his wife Katherine finds herself both physically and emotionally allergic to the place. Things develop in an interesting way, though, and the ending is not what the reader might have predicted at first.
After a somewhat slow start I found the story well-written and decently paced, but the characters, though well-drawn, were highly unsympathetic. Like many of Lurie's male characters, Paul is basically a self-centered jerk. Katherine, on the other hand, was extremely whiny and annoying (I couldn't stand all her talk about her sinusitis and the need to drain her nasal passages) -- an instance of effective characterization, I suppose, but not someone I wanted to read about.
Part of me admired Lurie's ability to make the story three-dimensional by showing how Paul might understandably be thoroughly sick of Katherine, and also by paving the way for Katherine's eventual growth and development. I still thought Paul was a jerk, though, for wanting to simply engage in affairs according to his whim while staying married to Katherine with no apparent guilt or self-criticism, and given that Katherine's later redemption comes about through an extramarital affair of her own, I couldn't sympathize much with her either.
So ultimately, a decently written but not very enjoyable story for me. It didn't hold a candle to Alison Lurie's better books, like Imaginary Friends or The War Between the Tates.
"The Nowhere City" is about a 1960s academic couple who moves to LA from New England so he can take a job as a historian for a government company (incidentally, while the book was highly dated it was interesting to see how people thought and talked back then). Paul, the husband, immediately falls in love with LA and begins an affair with a beatnik waitress; his wife Katherine finds herself both physically and emotionally allergic to the place. Things develop in an interesting way, though, and the ending is not what the reader might have predicted at first.
After a somewhat slow start I found the story well-written and decently paced, but the characters, though well-drawn, were highly unsympathetic. Like many of Lurie's male characters, Paul is basically a self-centered jerk. Katherine, on the other hand, was extremely whiny and annoying (I couldn't stand all her talk about her sinusitis and the need to drain her nasal passages) -- an instance of effective characterization, I suppose, but not someone I wanted to read about.
Part of me admired Lurie's ability to make the story three-dimensional by showing how Paul might understandably be thoroughly sick of Katherine, and also by paving the way for Katherine's eventual growth and development. I still thought Paul was a jerk, though, for wanting to simply engage in affairs according to his whim while staying married to Katherine with no apparent guilt or self-criticism, and given that Katherine's later redemption comes about through an extramarital affair of her own, I couldn't sympathize much with her either.
So ultimately, a decently written but not very enjoyable story for me. It didn't hold a candle to Alison Lurie's better books, like Imaginary Friends or The War Between the Tates.
March 15, 2020
I just love the way Alison Lurie writes. She has the wry, understated way of describing characters that goes straight to their essence. Her books are easy to read, yet with so many layers. This novel was published in 1965 and is very much a throwback to that era, with descriptions of clothes and customs. The setting itself -- Los Angeles in the 1960s -- plays a huge role, since the story revolves around a young couple from New England and how they adapt to this utterly foreign environment. Neither husband or wife is particularly likeable, but their experiences are so compelling that you just have to keep reading to find out what happens to this self-absorbed pair of twits. There are a few L.A. characters as well, including a starlet, a psychiatrist, and a hippie chick -- all of whom are original and interesting.
August 28, 2018
Critics of Alison Lurie often claim that her books are full of cliches and stereotypes. They are, of course, which is why they are also considered comedic and satirical. However, she uses these tools to express social commentary, especially about American society. Perhaps she overdoes it at times, but her stories are still pretty engaging to me and also thought-provoking. For instance, in the final pages of this novel, one of Lurie's protagonists named Paul observed that Los Angeles lacked the dimension of time and that "there were no seasons there, no days of the week, no night and day; beyond that, there was (or was supposed to be) no youth and age. But worst, and most frightening, there was no past or future -- only an eternal dizzying present." From the perspective of 1965, when the novel was published, this is a fairly astute observation about L.A., which at that time was the poster child for the shallowness and temporal nature of American culture and entertainment.
This same character, when comparing his wife, Katherine, to a woman named Glory with whom he had a brief sexual encounter, he thinks, "Glory, for instance, was most beautiful at a distance. When you got really close to her you could see that her bright hair was coarse and dyed; she had freckled, flawed skin. Katherine, on the other hand, was invisible at fifteen feet; but her skin and hair were fair and fine, and every detail delicately perfect." He can't get past the surface characteristics of these two women to appreciate anything deeper than their hair and skin. He is as shallow as his own description of L.A.
One curiosity about this novel for me is how we as readers in the 21st century bring our own sensibilities to a work from 1965. Our current assumptions about gender, sexuality, and social norms may cause us to judge incorrectly the motives of the writer and the words and actions of her characters. I found this especially to be true regarding the affair between Katherine and her boss. I found myself imposing standards on that relationship that likely would not have been expected or even considered for that time period. This is a phenomenon we all encounter and compensate for when reading literature from the distant past, but when it comes to a novel from 50 years ago, it seems a bit strange and intriguing.
This same character, when comparing his wife, Katherine, to a woman named Glory with whom he had a brief sexual encounter, he thinks, "Glory, for instance, was most beautiful at a distance. When you got really close to her you could see that her bright hair was coarse and dyed; she had freckled, flawed skin. Katherine, on the other hand, was invisible at fifteen feet; but her skin and hair were fair and fine, and every detail delicately perfect." He can't get past the surface characteristics of these two women to appreciate anything deeper than their hair and skin. He is as shallow as his own description of L.A.
One curiosity about this novel for me is how we as readers in the 21st century bring our own sensibilities to a work from 1965. Our current assumptions about gender, sexuality, and social norms may cause us to judge incorrectly the motives of the writer and the words and actions of her characters. I found this especially to be true regarding the affair between Katherine and her boss. I found myself imposing standards on that relationship that likely would not have been expected or even considered for that time period. This is a phenomenon we all encounter and compensate for when reading literature from the distant past, but when it comes to a novel from 50 years ago, it seems a bit strange and intriguing.
October 5, 2012
For a book originally published in 1965, I found this one to be terribly modern - from the love affairs, to the way the characters acted, all the way to the portrayal of the cities themselves. I liked the writing a lot - Lurie used a very immediate tone and style, but the conclusion wasn't quite as wrapped up as I would have liked it to be. Still, it was a highly entertaining book and more than anything else, I wished that my edition had a photograph and bio of the author. Still, I liked it and just can’t get over how LA hasn't seemed to change much in over forty years! Amazing...
May 27, 2020
Another one of my random reads from my schooldays when I was quiet a bookworm. I loved it. But then, it was before the age of cable in the 80s and well Internet was not even thought of. I hadn't read an Alison Lurie book before and have not read one since, but I really felt for the lead characters - couple - struggling with their marriage. I was moved and even saddened by the ending. I was younger and marriage was meant to be forever or so I believed. Now that I am older, I know better.
January 10, 2018
I liked the book but was surprised that in 1965 the following threats were considered acceptable : "......I'm going to give you what you came here for. .....if you won't take your clothes off, I'll tear them off. if you won't lie down, I'll knock you down. If you won't make love with me, I'll rape you. " Said by Iz Einsam to Katherine when she goes to his apartment to show him some plans for their building.
March 28, 2025
Horrible people having extramarital affairs in 1960s Los Angeles. Fabulous.
May 8, 2022
This is Alison Lurie's second novel. I was delighted to find this author when I read her debut 1962 novel, Love and Friendship. She wrote with intelligence, humor and a perceptive understanding of both women and men.
In The Nowhere City she adds a savvy insight into the changing mid-1960s mores and the culture shock inherent in changing coasts.
Paul Cattleman, with a PhD in history, takes a job in Los Angeles when he can't find a decently paying professorship in New England academia. His wife Katherine is a bit of a hothouse flower whose sinus troubles quickly become chronic in the smoggy air.
Each of these mismatched partners lives through personal changes and growth. The funny parts reveal that the West Coast penchant for "finding oneself," always mocked even to this day on the East Coast, turns out to be true.
With scintillating descriptions of the cultural flashpoints in America's so-called city of dreams, of the inherent superficiality found even in its business world, Lurie brings her main characters to a nuanced understanding of themselves. Katherine wins the game. Paul returns to play out his philandering ways in the safety of convention.
As I have observed in my long reading of 20th century fiction from 1940 on, each decade reaches a turning point midway from the traditional to the modern. The Nowhere City fits right into that pattern and is, in fact, rather ahead of its time for 1965.
In The Nowhere City she adds a savvy insight into the changing mid-1960s mores and the culture shock inherent in changing coasts.
Paul Cattleman, with a PhD in history, takes a job in Los Angeles when he can't find a decently paying professorship in New England academia. His wife Katherine is a bit of a hothouse flower whose sinus troubles quickly become chronic in the smoggy air.
Each of these mismatched partners lives through personal changes and growth. The funny parts reveal that the West Coast penchant for "finding oneself," always mocked even to this day on the East Coast, turns out to be true.
With scintillating descriptions of the cultural flashpoints in America's so-called city of dreams, of the inherent superficiality found even in its business world, Lurie brings her main characters to a nuanced understanding of themselves. Katherine wins the game. Paul returns to play out his philandering ways in the safety of convention.
As I have observed in my long reading of 20th century fiction from 1940 on, each decade reaches a turning point midway from the traditional to the modern. The Nowhere City fits right into that pattern and is, in fact, rather ahead of its time for 1965.
March 24, 2025
What a great ending.
November 7, 2016
An amoral beatnik waitress/artist named Ceci O'Connor; a transplanted Harvard grad student's uptight wife, Katherine Cattleman; her husband, Paul, now working as a historian for Nutting Research and Development, an electronics company with vague government connections; Dr. Isidore Einsam, a manipulative, predatory psychiatrist; his Hollywood starlet wife, Glory Green, who comes with stalker fans and her own entourage of industry operatives--these are the characters who populate what seems to be an extramarital L.A. theme park with rollercoaster and tilt-a-whirl rides. And all, sooner or later, subscribe to Katherine's belief that, "...what it is about Los Angeles: what happens here doesn't count." (Lurie's 1965 precursor of "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.) But, of course, this does not remain true. Therein lies the tale.
I gave this "3" because I found the ending to be rushed and unsatisfactory. Too bad. I love the way she tells a story, and this remained true for this one until the last two or three chapters.
I gave this "3" because I found the ending to be rushed and unsatisfactory. Too bad. I love the way she tells a story, and this remained true for this one until the last two or three chapters.
August 29, 2011
This book was written in the 1960's, and is a good representation of the issues facing couples at that time. It's depiction of Los Angeles, the hippie scene, very different sexual attitudes, etc., was fun to read.
Very readable!
Very readable!
December 28, 2014
A professor and his reluctant wife leave New England for LA. A simple tale superbly told, with real people and and enthralling development. If Lurie had written this more recently it would have a lot more good reviews on goodreads!
August 28, 2017
A different, well written look at 60s Southern California with two New Englanders trying to adapt. Great ending.
August 15, 2022
This is a story of marital disfunction set in LA. I experienced those places, people and circumstances. Lurie got it right.
December 18, 2022
really enjoyed this. love a book that details the lives of lots of characters who meet and interact and even alter the course of each others lives.
katherine cattleman is brilliant and she’s such a likeable character! I love how she develops into a totally new person by the end of this and I love how paul, her husband, seems to have stayed exactly the same. their relationship and their individual experiences are so interesting to read about. you really see so much change in this, so much happens and although this took me a while to read I eventually really got into it. i love the way that lurie writes about LA, it seems to be the best and worst place in the world all at once. she also creates this atmosphere of unpredictability and irrelevancy. nothing matters, but at the same time everything does. LA is the nowhere city to paul, but it becomes the everything and everywhere city for katherine. lurie also writes about loneliness and feeling isolated in a city in such a refreshing way, i feel like the feelings of solitude she embedded in characters and chapters of this book, felt so different to other books/films i’ve seen that tackle a similar theme.
loved this so so much! definitely going to try and read more of lurie’s work.
katherine cattleman is brilliant and she’s such a likeable character! I love how she develops into a totally new person by the end of this and I love how paul, her husband, seems to have stayed exactly the same. their relationship and their individual experiences are so interesting to read about. you really see so much change in this, so much happens and although this took me a while to read I eventually really got into it. i love the way that lurie writes about LA, it seems to be the best and worst place in the world all at once. she also creates this atmosphere of unpredictability and irrelevancy. nothing matters, but at the same time everything does. LA is the nowhere city to paul, but it becomes the everything and everywhere city for katherine. lurie also writes about loneliness and feeling isolated in a city in such a refreshing way, i feel like the feelings of solitude she embedded in characters and chapters of this book, felt so different to other books/films i’ve seen that tackle a similar theme.
loved this so so much! definitely going to try and read more of lurie’s work.
February 26, 2023
I selected this book because it was available to me through the library with kindle. I did not know the author. The author I never heard of, but I love to read, and it sounded interesting.
This book turned out to be such a surprise. What a wonderful author. Uncelebrated? She should be world famous! Is it just me who didn’t know her ?
She has a special and intimate knowledge of human behavior. Comical and sad; she delves into the deep depths of every character, in a way that is intimate and eye-opening. The plot thickens in the most delicious way.
This book is in the moment. Using the slang of the day from LA was fun to revisit . “Making it”. “Digging it.”
This story, of East Coast vs West Coast resonated with me as I am from the proper East Coast and I lived in the wild Pacific many years. I was always baffled by the lack of “manners’ there.
She illustrates the natural environment in LA perfectly versus the lushly green and verdant east coast.
Her descriptions of the people and the place are spot on. At the time this was written, in the height of the sexual changes in identity that were going on with women and men. And importantly the women in the book finding their own way and their own voice. I was quite happy with Katherine in the end.
She is so good! Definitely going to read more of her work.
This book turned out to be such a surprise. What a wonderful author. Uncelebrated? She should be world famous! Is it just me who didn’t know her ?
She has a special and intimate knowledge of human behavior. Comical and sad; she delves into the deep depths of every character, in a way that is intimate and eye-opening. The plot thickens in the most delicious way.
This book is in the moment. Using the slang of the day from LA was fun to revisit . “Making it”. “Digging it.”
This story, of East Coast vs West Coast resonated with me as I am from the proper East Coast and I lived in the wild Pacific many years. I was always baffled by the lack of “manners’ there.
She illustrates the natural environment in LA perfectly versus the lushly green and verdant east coast.
Her descriptions of the people and the place are spot on. At the time this was written, in the height of the sexual changes in identity that were going on with women and men. And importantly the women in the book finding their own way and their own voice. I was quite happy with Katherine in the end.
She is so good! Definitely going to read more of her work.
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March 24, 2024An early and unusual novel from Lurie, as she hasn't yet begun to develop the habit of bringing characters from one narrative into her others. Only a setting is shared with this novel's predecessor, and that for only a few pages. This is LA/Hollywood in/around the turn of the 50s into the 60s, just a bit before hippies, still under the influence of the Beats, but as always empty of any depth. I kept thinking "Unreal City" as I read, conflating Eliot with two generations and an ocean between. Elements of Anthony Powell's 1937 Hollywood tenure (Lurie had, I think, met Powell by this point but not yet become a visitor at Powell's home in Britain) also serve to unite Lurie's take on "Tinsel Town" with Nathanael West, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and just about everyone else who has tried to convey the absent essence of the false front/movie set which is greater LA.
February 2, 2022
This novel was written in 1965, and I loved the descriptions of clothes, culture and LA at that time. Other folks have commented that both main characters are unsympathetic, but as a mildly uptight type myself, I’m giving Katherine a break. There’s one very jarring comment that reminded me just how screwed up sexual mores could be at that time, but in general, the time, setting, and story were fun to get lost in. Plus, I got a kick out of the descriptions of Venice Beach as a run down slum! Imagine!
March 12, 2018
Liked this book a lot more than I thought I would. I read it for my Tales of the City module as it focuses on a couple who move from New York to Los Angeles. Couldn't help noticing that there were a lot of parallels to Less Than Zero, especially concerning the descriptions of people as 'tan and blonde' which occurs in both.
I wouldn't say this book was particularly amazing, but I did have an enjoyable time reading it and once you get to know the characters it becomes fun to read about them and see how they all intersect.
I wouldn't say this book was particularly amazing, but I did have an enjoyable time reading it and once you get to know the characters it becomes fun to read about them and see how they all intersect.
April 3, 2008
Used to be, when I thought of Alison Lurie, I thought two things: "1980s" and "boring". Wrong on both counts.
I bought this for $1 at a going-out-of-business bookstore and it has collected dust on the shelf ever since. But last weekend I was looking for a book that I hoped would be plain, but good. I was tired of outerspace, magical children, Victoriana, and other fancy shenaningans.
"Nowhere City" really fit the bill. It was just about people. People, and what they do, and how they treat each other, and what they say. Maybe back in the 80s when I was first getting my hands on grown-up literature, that's what I thought was boring. So maybe now I'm old and boring too. But, honestly, it was completely refreshing to read a book that wasn't about anything.
Lurie won the Pulitzer in 1985, so maybe that's where the "80s" stigma came from, but the pub date on this one is 1965. I love reading things once their time has passed. They seem so much clearer, with all the contemporary dazzle quieted down.
I bought this for $1 at a going-out-of-business bookstore and it has collected dust on the shelf ever since. But last weekend I was looking for a book that I hoped would be plain, but good. I was tired of outerspace, magical children, Victoriana, and other fancy shenaningans.
"Nowhere City" really fit the bill. It was just about people. People, and what they do, and how they treat each other, and what they say. Maybe back in the 80s when I was first getting my hands on grown-up literature, that's what I thought was boring. So maybe now I'm old and boring too. But, honestly, it was completely refreshing to read a book that wasn't about anything.
Lurie won the Pulitzer in 1985, so maybe that's where the "80s" stigma came from, but the pub date on this one is 1965. I love reading things once their time has passed. They seem so much clearer, with all the contemporary dazzle quieted down.
July 17, 2019
Alison Lurie deserves more recognition. The sheer originality of her writing, especially of familiar things is to be marveled.
We have Paul and Katherine who have recently moved to LA. One finds it full of possibilities while the other despises everything it stands for. And then the adventures they have. I told you, the premise is not exciting or new. It's Lurie's intelligent treatment of the familiar that offers so much comfort when reading what's a breeze!
We have Paul and Katherine who have recently moved to LA. One finds it full of possibilities while the other despises everything it stands for. And then the adventures they have. I told you, the premise is not exciting or new. It's Lurie's intelligent treatment of the familiar that offers so much comfort when reading what's a breeze!
August 16, 2008
This was very, very average, though I did like the ending. I have read a lot by Alison Lurie, and I would say this and another have been fairly bad to middling, 3 have been excellent, and the rest have been good, which isn't a bad track record, but the bad just disappoint more because I have high expectations.
December 4, 2007
I like Alison Lurie and I liked this book a great deal. First published in 1965, it follows a husband and wife to Los Angeles from Boston. She kicks and screams, he gets into the LA spirit immediately. It is a fresh, clean read.
August 11, 2008
I think this is a very early book of hers, so it doesn't quite hold together. But it's worth it to read all the hilarious beatnik slang.
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March 30, 2009I just read another Alison Lurie book (FOREIGN AFFAIRS) and this one looks interesting.
December 31, 2010
Young New England couple move to Los Angeles. They are both snobbish, he is selfish and she is whiney and picky. Not sympathetic characters but I enjoyed how the city affected them.
December 1, 2011
Fascinating story of a dysfunctional marriage and and life in LA. Her protraiture is razor sharp and also funny1
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