Saturday’s Book: “The Nowhere City” by Alison Lurie

 (Naomi's photos)
(Naomi’s photos)

 

I’m aware of the fact that I have lately become more critical when it comes to books, but this time my problem is a bit different.

I found the writing to be skillful and rich, the characters well-built and they develop as the story progresses. The first chapters were engaging and drew me in quickly.  In fact I would be willing to try reading another book by this author. The back cover mentions a Pulitzer Prize for one of the author’s other books.

However, after reading half the book I simply felt bored.

Perhaps it is because the story feels so dated ( it was published in 1965). The young couple who , in the 1950s, leaves New England to go to California. As far as their friends are concerned they have disappeared into oblivion. There they encounter people who are supposedly free of the constraints of the straight-laced life in New England, people with minimal clothing and different values & morals. Many seem to be living in messy homes with lots of pot but they are, supposedly, somehow, more real. Lurie uses terms like Beatniks and Starlets and seems trying to explain to a reader, who hasn’t yet met the sixties, a thing or two.

I just really couldn’t work up an interest in what happens to this couple any further and abandoned the book…

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