I have enjoyed Diane Johnson’s other books, especially L’Marriage and L’Affaire, as amusing specimens of American-French relationships. Lying Low has a different setting. In an old house in a hot California valley college town, an elderly dancer and her photographer brother provide rooms for two young women. One is Brazilian, gamely learning English and in constant apprehension about her immigration status. The other is in hiding from her past, some violent deed for which she is wanted.
Structurally, this book is a pas de quartre, as each of the four briefly takes the stage and performs his or her worries and concerns. Anton, the brother, is probably the least realized, but all the characters fell short. Johnson’s young American women in France, with their misunderstandings of French cultural norms, meant well and were amusing. Somehow it doesn’t work as well in California — they are too simple, too flat.
