Paul and Katherine a young couple newly arrived in Los Angeles from the ordered but restrained environs of Harvard are forced to reexamine everything that gave their life meaning back in the "real" world. Informed by a brilliant interpretation of East and West Coast lifestyles and attitudes, this novel is an insightful and tellingly funny account of marital dysfunction. Like Alison Lurie's first novel, "Love and Friendship", her second deals with marital disharmony among members of America's academic community. Whereas the earlier book, however, was set in a wintry New England, "The Nowhere City" takes place in sunny California. Paul Cattleman, a young university historian, accepts a job with a big corporation based in Los Angeles to write the company's history