Lightning Field

Three women struggle to find value in the ultimate of consumer-driven cultures, Los Angeles. Mina, a waitress, lives with her screenwriter husband and has almost inadvertently acquired two lovers. Her friend Lorene runs a chain of highly successful theme restaurants, catering to the unconscious desires and idiosyncrasies of their rich clientele. Lisa works as a lowly housemaid. With superb wit and keen irony, Spiotta examines the lives of these trapped Los Angeles suburbanites - their neuroses, quack therapies and New Age obsessions - and the strange and varied ways in which women cope with their relationship to contemporary culture.