The Book Pages: A forgotten Los Angeles novel is rediscovered

In 1970s-era Los Angeles, something was in the air. Much of that was smog, but there were other atmospheric troubles in those days of Me-Decade malaise.
Call it a feeling of uneasiness, a sense that the overripe paradise of Southern California had gone off. Author Gavin Lambert captures some of that dread – as well as L.A.’s toxic air – in his 1971 novel, “The Goodby People.” (Yes, he spelled it “Goodby,” which, like so