It is difficult to believe that this discerning cast would have involved themselves in this project if the initial reading proved to be as unsatisfying as the finished work.<br /><br />Another work, John D. McDonalds' book "Condominium", for example, dealt with similar subject matter but with an intelligence and style that allowed the protagonists to be understandable and even sympathetic characters in spite of their flaws. In "The Californians" the characters appeared unaware of the importance of the world around them while wandering aimlessly through their own, increasingly trivial, lives.<br /><br />To paraphrase Rudyard Kipling: <br /><br />"If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs<br /><br />and blaming it on you ... chances are you haven't grasped the<br /><br />situation! "