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Disturbing the Peace

3.68 of 5 stars 3.68 · rating details · 711 ratings · 93 reviews

John Wilder is in his mid-thirties, a successful salesman with a place in the country, an adoring wife and a ten-year-old son.But something is wrong. His family no longer interests him, his infidelities are leading him nowhere and he has begun to drink too much. Then one night, something inside John snaps and he calls his wife to tell her that he isn't coming home...

Paperback, 272 pages

Published June 5th 2008 by Vintage Classics (first published 1975)

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May 05, 2012 doug bowman rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

This novel, by one of my favorite late 20th century writers, is a compellingly realistic story of the downward spiral of an alcoholic. It's power comes from the exacting insights into the mundane existence of the characters trying to survive and thrive in modern society; along a view into the mind of a man making a step-by-step descent into a private hell. As Yates draws you into Wilder's mind, you find yourself,like the main character, unable to see the bottom, until you have made the slow desc...more

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Jan 19, 2013 Ginny rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Magnifico e implacabile cantore delle umane miserie, Yates frantuma irreparabilmente l’effimera patina esteriore di spensieratezza, benessere e successo della classe media americana, per portarne alla superficie tutta la fragilità, la disperazione e l’inettitudine ad affrontare la vita. E lo fa nel tono pacato e quasi indifferente di chi considera la tragedia come il naturale ed inevitabile epilogo del vivere umano.
“Disturbo della quiete pubblica” è l’accusa mossa al protagonista, che dà in esc...more Magnifico e implacabile cantore delle umane miserie, Yates frantuma irreparabilmente l’effimera patina esteriore di spensieratezza, benessere e successo della classe media americana, per portarne alla superficie tutta la fragilità, la disperazione e l’inettitudine ad affrontare la vita. E lo fa nel tono pacato e quasi indifferente di chi considera la tragedia come il naturale ed inevitabile epilogo del vivere umano.
“Disturbo della quiete pubblica” è l’accusa mossa al protagonista, che dà in escandescenze nel corso di una crisi di nervi; un’accusa che suona ironica e penosa alla luce degli avvenimenti futuri. L’alcol, prima da solo e in seguito miscelato con psicofarmaci in un micidiale cocktail, è per John Wilder un sostegno, l’antidoto allo sconforto e alla furia distruttiva che gli monta dentro contro tutto ciò che è mediocre e banale nella propria vita passata e presente. Perché lui aspira al meglio in ogni campo, è convinto di essere in credito di quanto gli spetta dalla vita, ha addirittura in mente di realizzare ‘bei film’ ed è certo che saprebbe farlo. Della mancata attuazione dei suoi desideri incolpa la sorte, che non lo ha dotato di modi abbastanza sicuri e disinvolti, di una statura abbastanza alta, della capacità di affrontare la lettura di libri… e così via.

”Più tardi, nel pomeriggio, vi furono le riprese in cui la polizia di Dallas spintonava verso la prigione un sospetto di nome Oswald – tutto quello che si riusciva a vedere era un tipo pelle e ossa con una maglietta a maniche corte – mentre un virtuoso poliziotto mostrava alle telecamere un fucile di precisione. Solo in quel momento Wilder si rese conto di cosa provava, e se ne andò in cucina a bere di nascosto un sorso del whisky che Janice teneva per gli ospiti. Provava simpatia per l’assassino e sentiva di capire il suo movente. Kennedy era troppo giovane, troppo ricco, troppo bello e troppo fortunato; era l’incarnazione dell’eleganza, dell’intelligenza e della finezza. Il suo assassino aveva parlato in nome della debolezza, delle tenebre nevrotiche, della battaglia senza speranza e delle passioni autodistruttive dell’ignoranza, e John Wilder comprendeva tutte queste forze anche troppo bene. Si sentiva quasi come se fosse stato lui a premere il grilletto, ed era sollevato di essere lì, tremante e in salvo nella propria cucina, a tremila chilometri di distanza.”

John Wilder ha moglie, un figlio, un’amante bellissima e un lavoro ben retribuito in cui eccelle, tuttavia imboccherà una china inarrestabile verso le tenebre della follia, verso il nulla più desolato della solitudine e dell’apatia, perdendo l’amore di coloro che egli stesso non ha mai saputo amare, il lavoro che ha sempre soltanto tollerato e quell’esistenza che è stato incapace di gestire e di vivere appieno. E la cosa più amara è che il suo tragico destino si compia nell’indifferenza proprio da parte delle persone che gli sono più vicine, anch’esse impegnate in una crudele lotta per la sopravvivenza e l’eccellenza, per il raggiungimento dei loro scopi, non fa differenza se nobili o meschini; una competizione che non ammette pause di riflessione o sostegno ai più deboli, abbandonati per strada come inutile zavorra, perché è la debolezza la sola onta, il vero nemico da biasimare e combattere in questa assurda corsa verso l’effimero richiamo di una felicità basata essenzialmente sull’egoismo.
Così la quiete pubblica sarà salvaguardata.(less)

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Nov 23, 2012 Piperitapitta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: autrici-usa, gruppi-di-lettura, letteratura-usa, romanzo

Volevo uccidere JFK.

Difficile vivere ai tempi di John Kennedy, in un'epoca in cui tutto volgeva alla perfezione e all'ottimismo. Doveva essere veramente difficile incarnare e rispettare i canoni dell'americano perfetto, a quei tempi.
Richard Yates, ancora una volta, sceglie di raccontarci l'altra faccia della medaglia del sogno americano: quello dei perdenti, dei falliti, di quelli che in tutti i modi cercano di tendere e di raggiungere a quell'ideale di perfezione umana in una società in cui tut...more

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Oct 23, 2011 Breene rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

About a week or two ago, the guy I intern for passed down a copy of Yates' 'Revolutionary Road' which absolutely hooked me on Yates' writing. He's incredibly economical and precise while also being almost gymnastic (a term my old man gives for his favorite writers, but I find it fitting here, too). I read "Easter Parade" following "Revolutionary Road" then a few of the short stories from The Collection and now, "Disturbing the Peace."

It's strange to say, since this is a story about the demise o...more

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Oct 04, 2009 Brooke rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I got ‘Disturbing the Peace’ because it promised me alchy fiction (this was before I’d seen ‘Revolutionary Road’). Richard Yates does not write pretty prose. And he doesn’t have literary allusions scattered throughout his work. It’s very bare and simple. The prose AND the subject matter (for the most part). And yet, it absolutely devastates you. If you saw ‘Revolutionary Road’ then you know what I’m talking about. I forget the female characters name but man…yeah, I get that. That endless search...more I got ‘Disturbing the Peace’ because it promised me alchy fiction (this was before I’d seen ‘Revolutionary Road’). Richard Yates does not write pretty prose. And he doesn’t have literary allusions scattered throughout his work. It’s very bare and simple. The prose AND the subject matter (for the most part). And yet, it absolutely devastates you. If you saw ‘Revolutionary Road’ then you know what I’m talking about. I forget the female characters name but man…yeah, I get that. That endless search for what’ll make you happy. And I think, to some extent, that’s what ‘Disturbing the Peace’ was about too. Which…kind of disappoints me in a way but at the same time…I don’t mind because they’re so vastly different.

Either way…this is my response: FUCK.

Richard Yates is probably not a good author to read if your emotional state isn’t at a solid good. Like, I know people who are depressed or just…not feeling the greatest tend to skew towards depressing books because…reading non-depressing books would seem even MORE depressing. But…I do not think that is the case with Richard Yates. I read Prozac Nation like…two years ago, I think. And I would say that despite how depressing most of it is, it is a pretty okay book for someone who’s messed up to read. But…anything Richard’s Yates IS NOT.

I wouldn’t call this book a literary master piece. I’m not sure I sympathize with any of the characters besides Tommy and he was mentioned for maybe ten pages total. And this is the only time I ever kind of liked the main character:

“Wilder had learned once, in some elementary science course either at Grace Church or at Yale, that the reason for a retractable scrotum in all male mammals is to protect the reproductory organs in hazardous or distressful situations: sharp blades of jungle grass, say, will brush against a running animal’s thighs, and the testicles will automatically withdraw to the base of the trunk. He wasn’t sure if he had it right—did he have anything right that he’d ever learned in school?—but the basic idea seemed sound, and in any case it was happening to him now: his balls were rising, right there in the coffee shop.”

BUT…I still feel like shit after reading it. So…Yates did something right. And he probably needed a whole lot of psychiatric help himself.
I guess…well, you know being a “writer” I understand the process to some extent. The subject matter that you write reflects you. So the subject matter of Yates’ work? Yeah. This guy was not happy. I don’t know if he ever was. There really aren’t even spots of joy in his work, there are only fleeting ALLUSIONS of happiness. And that’s the closest he ever comes to exploring that feeling.

Either way. I’m a bit shell shocked after having finished it.
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Jun 07, 2011 Laurel-Rain rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In the early 1960s in Manhattan, John Wilder is a man in his mid-thirties with a seemingly successful career and great family life. A wife and son, with everything pointing to a promising life. But after a business trip, John calls his wife and says he is not coming home.

What happens next could be characterized as an abrupt break with reality, but Wilder's week in Bellevue, where he is placed after an episode of "disturbing the peace," can be seen as an inevitable midpoint to something that has...more

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Nov 06, 2009 Cecily rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: american-canadian, miscellaneous-fiction

This covers Yates' familiar (and heavily autobiographical) themes: alcohol, strained relationships, lack of communication, dull job in advertising/media, amateur dramatics, time in the army, depression etc and takes it to new depths: the descent into madness. Yet, as ever, he finds a new slant, so the story is simultaneously fresh and familiar.

It starts fairly dramatically, and follows the subsequent ups and downs of John Wilder's 30s - a compelling read. As well as the usual traumas for a Yates...more

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Sep 20, 2009 Tajma rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the only Yates novel that I had to force myself to finish.

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Jun 13, 2010 Christine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In Disturbing the Peace, Yates introduces us to John Wilder, an insecure thirty-something ad executive who, we learn right away, is in the middle of a midlife crisis - think unhappy marriage, job dissatisfaction, personal dissatisfaction, extramarital affairs, and booze -- lots and lots of booze. But, it quickly becomes clear that Wilder's crisis isn't really of the midlife variety. Rather, it's that he is flat out delusional. In other words, the man is mad - mad as insane, mad as addicted. Mad,...more

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Aug 08, 2009 Gena rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This one took me a while to get through. Sure, it started off well enough, I wanted to know why John Wilder wasn't coming home. But then he is committed to Bellevue, and spends the entire book drinking too much in combination with taking anti-psychotics, having a run-on affair deciding to produce a movie based on his stint in Bellevue. He never redeems himself, his wife remains "comfortable", "civilized" and the book winds itself right back to essentially where it began. I don't like the feel or...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Colin N. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In "Disturbing the Peace" John Wilder is a successful advertising executive and living the American middle class dream with a marriage, 10-year-old child, and a thriving business. That is until he returns from a business trip and calls to tell his wife that he cannot come home. This refusal leads John down a spiral that leads to extensive drinking, abuse of prescription medication, and mental illness.

"Disturbing the Peace" is a tragic tale. I was expecting a plot more like "Rabbit Run," in which...more

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May 11, 2011 Diane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

From the very beginning, even the opening paragraphs of this book,seemed to have a sense of foreboding of bad things to come......

"Everything began to go wrong for Janice Wilder in the late summer of 1960. And the worst part, she always said afterwards, the awful part, was that it seemed to happen without warning.

She was thirty-four and the mother of a ten-year-old son. The fading of her youth didn't bother her--it hadn't been a very carefree or adventurous youth anyway--and if her marriage was...more From the very beginning, even the opening paragraphs of this book,seemed to have a sense of foreboding of bad things to come......

"Everything began to go wrong for Janice Wilder in the late summer of 1960. And the worst part, she always said afterwards, the awful part, was that it seemed to happen without warning.

She was thirty-four and the mother of a ten-year-old son. The fading of her youth didn't bother her--it hadn't been a very carefree or adventurous youth anyway--and if her marriage was more an arrangement than romance, that was all right too. Nobody's life was perfect. She enjoyed the orderly rotation of her days; she enjoyed books, of which she owned a great many; and she enjoyed her high, bright apartment with its view of midtown Manhattan towers. It was neither a rich nor an elegant apartment, but it was comfortable--and 'comfortable' was one of Janice Wilder's favorite words. She was fond of the word 'civilized', too, and of 'reasonable' and 'adjustment' and 'relationship'. Hardly, anything upset or frightened her: the only things that did--sometimes to the point of making her blood run cold--were the things she didn't understand."

In this story the protagonist, John Wilder is an advertising salesman with a wife and young son. He is a very unstable man, who sometimes drinks to excess, and a womanizer to boot. From the very early beginnings of this story, he appears to be suffering some sort of a nervous breakdown. A friend drives him to Bellevue Psych hospital where he spends one week in an involuntary lockup, and his reflections demonstrate he is somewhat delusional at times as well.

"I've been a turd under everybody's feet all my life and I've just now figured out there's greatness in me."

When he is released from the hospital he, his unhappy wife Janice and their young, emotionless son Tommy take a trip to the country and try to pretend to be a family. It's evident that no weekend getaway can fix this family's problems. In fact, it seems like John Wilder just can't make it as a husband and father. He's a man who comes and goes as he pleases, and in the process of trying to find happiness and meaning in his life, he just experiences much of the same, just in different locales.

This is one of those novels where there are not any likeable characters, but yet the story is so well written that you'll be anxious to find out what happens to John Wilder and his family. Yet, another Yates book with more dysfunctional people and a story held my interest throughout. Can't wait to read more by Richard Yates.
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Sep 27, 2011 Brett rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Having read the Yates biography - "A Tragic Honesty" I realize that this particular novel is largely autobiographical, and likely written under a great deal of publisher pressure in an alcoholic fog...needless to say it isn't my favorite Yates novel. It has moments but it more or less reminds me of a 50's detective pulp...it's got that kind of feel to it. What it definitely lacks is that trapped feeling of inevitability and futility that comes across so strong in R.R. and Easter Parade. But I ha...more

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Dec 11, 2009 Adam Floridia rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Of the four Yates novels I’ve read, this one had the most in terms of plot. Conversely, of the four Yates novels I’ve read, this one was the least engaging.
I thought that protagonist John Wilder’s admittance to the psych ward for disturbing the peace happened very quickly (page 16). As proven by Kesey, a psychiatric hospital is a bountiful setting replete with limitless character options. Yates does nothing extraordinary with it. Luckily, Wilder’s stint in the hospital is brief (only 42 pages)....more Of the four Yates novels I’ve read, this one had the most in terms of plot. Conversely, of the four Yates novels I’ve read, this one was the least engaging.
I thought that protagonist John Wilder’s admittance to the psych ward for disturbing the peace happened very quickly (page 16). As proven by Kesey, a psychiatric hospital is a bountiful setting replete with limitless character options. Yates does nothing extraordinary with it. Luckily, Wilder’s stint in the hospital is brief (only 42 pages). I was glad for it to be over and thought it completely unnecessary until I later realized that this uninteresting event would essentially be the heart of the novel.

Once Wilder is back with his family, Yates’ writing begins to take stride. The troubled-family dynamic is what Yates captures so brilliantly. He allows the reader to sympathize with, relate to, and condemn Wilder all at the same time. Even when he sends his wife and young son off on their own so that he can chat up a bikini-clad young coed, it is hard to completely contemn him, for he is only human and, as such, suffers from parent issues, a Napoleon complex, and other self-confidence issues. Sadly, most of these character traits are presented directly to the reader rather than through subtle indirect characterization. Even more sadly, Yates entirely abandons the family dynamic by having his protagonist seek out his pipe dream. Rather than read about this more mobile plot twist, I would much rather have read about the wife’s struggle to love her husband and the husband’s struggle to stay with his wife and son.

Like in A Good School, Yates implies that this very novel is ostensibly written by one of its characters. This worked extremely well in A Good School; it fails here. Like his characterization, Yates is much too overt in attempt at imbuing this work with its own metanarrative. Having the actors of Wilder’s play debate the analysis of its main character (Wilder himself) as either an everyman or a Christ figure is too transparent; even the director says “‘Might be a little too obvious.’” Why didn’t Yates take his own advice and NOT make Wilder eventually think he is “some kind of messiah, a second coming of Christ”? As if that weren’t a brazen enough metanarrative, there is the later rewriting of the movie script that clearly maps out what will happen in the remaining 70 pages of the novel.

Before reading this, I worried that I would soon become bored with Yates’ book because nothing happens. After reading his attempt at a more plot-driven novel, I look forward to getting back to his perfectly rendered slice-of-life novels.
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Jun 02, 2012 Ken rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is an interesting and well-written novel about 'Losing Your Mind'. John Wilder works in advertising, and while at a conference, drinks too much, has some disturbing thoughts, and ends up spending a long Labor Day weekend in Bellevue. Wilder must ask himself whether this was just an aberration due to stress and booze, or was it a signal that something much deeper is at play. John strives to document his adventure, and turn it into a screenplay, and this implies that the incident is behind hi...more

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Mar 17, 2010 Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

California evidently signifies something, the same thing, in mid-century settings. It's Xanadu. It's wild, it's where people go to freak out, hit on younger girls, lose themselves, and utterly lose it. The Last Tycoon. Mad Men. And, unfortunately, Disturbing the Peace. This book started off great. There was enough of a balance between sane and crazy to keep things interesting and to make the main character fascinating. I lost interest in this book somewhere in the last third, and really was over...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Stefan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An ingenious comment on life in the U.S in the second half of the 2oth century. Particularly noteworthy is the deft way Yates creates a plot that is self-generating.(I am trying not to give anything away--let the novel lead you through its pathway! He is a master in the use and development of novelistic ideas. There is a singularly effective use of the Kennedy assassination in the plot. The book addresses the question: Where is American life heading? I would say the manner of addressing this que...more

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Apr 23, 2012 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Here you have another run-of-the-mill Yates novel featuring a husband in the midst of an emotional breakdown. According to Wikipedia, this book was panned and critics claimed it was proof that Yates had “squandered his talent, drank it away.” Despite this, I was engrossed. I read it from cover to cover in about a day. There’s a chapter set in the psych ward that hits all the usual notes, but Yates hits them uncannily well. Maybe I’m biased because I can read anything by him. Then again, I’m a gl...more

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Sep 01, 2010 Katherine rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

"And Borg frowned through the billows of common sense that from his clenched pipe" (74).
"'...and I remember thinking Jesus, these guys are just like me: we've all been raised on movies, and we're just no beginning to figure out what frauds most of them are'" (97-98).
"Then they were back in the reception room shaking hands, and he dropped thirty-nine floors in the elevator with a sense of falling back to reality" (110).
"And Carl Munchin wagged his forefinger from side to side, smiling cannily, li...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Lupurk rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, biblioteca

Prima esperienza con questo autore, devo dire che ne esco più che soddisfatta. Definire "bello" questo libro suona quasi fuori luogo, nel senso che il tema è impegnativo e il clima che pervade la lettura non è precisamente piacevole, eppure è veramente ben scritto, capace di trascinare anche il lettore nel gorgo di follia e disperazione in cui cade John. Bellissima la parte finale, metaletteraria e affascinante, nonché i deliri delle ultime pagine. Un libro che lascia poco spazio alla speranza,...more

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Dec 30, 2010 Sistermagpie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: american-lit, novels

Not my favorite of the Richard Yates books that I've read, but each one has been different. This one returns to the subject of the suburban man in a job he doesn't much like, but who's too self-destructive to survive outside of it. This main character's problem is mental illness, though, and he lives in a world that seems completely insensitive to it. It leaves with a sense of other people benfitting off the protagonist's inability to function, which is sad even if the main character isn't a nic...more

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Nov 03, 2012 Sandra rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Credo che in questo libro Yates raggiunga l’apice della sua inesorabile analisi dell’infelicità umana. Mai ho letto un altro libro che mi abbia creato disagio in ogni pagina come Disturbo della quiete pubblica. Un disagio per l’opera di autodistruzione volutamente realizzata dal protagonista, incapace di reagire al malessere esistenziale che attanaglia ognuno di noi, ma che in John Wilder, pubblicitario di buone capacità, trova facile presa a causa dell’alcoolismo cronico che lo opprime. Ed allo...more

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May 14, 2013 adam brown added it · review of another edition Recommends it for: any yates fan

richard yates was a true discovery. as was raymond carver. i found out about them both a few months apart, and while the style is so different, the subjects, rawness, and sadness is the same.

i picked up "disturbing the peace" the other night. it's the first time i've come across it, and any time i come across a book of his i haven't read, i know i probably won't see it again for a long time, so i grabbed it. i plan on finishing the last three quarters of the book tonight (i'm reading "the correc...more richard yates was a true discovery. as was raymond carver. i found out about them both a few months apart, and while the style is so different, the subjects, rawness, and sadness is the same.

i picked up "disturbing the peace" the other night. it's the first time i've come across it, and any time i come across a book of his i haven't read, i know i probably won't see it again for a long time, so i grabbed it. i plan on finishing the last three quarters of the book tonight (i'm reading "the corrections" right now, and i have the bad habit of reading like four or five books at once, but this one will be a quick book in between the larger one) and continue on with Franzen.

on one hand, yates never got very adventurous with his writing. never switching up his style a flicker, but remained consistent in all his novels delivering a heart wrenching line at the end of all his chapters. i never cried before while reading, but "revolutionary road" taught me how much books can move me. as was "easter parade" one of my top five favorite books, and with his books that "aren't so good" he still shows the mastery of story telling. i compare him to douglas sirk films.

"disturbing the peace", while not as strong as some of his others, it is still a great read. knowing that he actually lived through what he is writing about makes it more poignant and his details with the rooms of bellevue, the colors, the doctors, and what he thinks of his wife and his friends wives - they are all probably how he felt somewhere at some time, deep inside that troubled and confused mind of his.

i recommend this book if your'e a fan of yates. even as "young hearts crying" was a slight rehash of some other works, this one is not, but is told in similar matters, with similar people living similar lives in all the rest of his books, but this one takes on mental disease and what a normal man, living a normal life, - well the bough can break and down comes baby and all, crashing in broken gin bottles of do you get up? or stay down?

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Jun 01, 2011 Mad Dog rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Yates readers

In this book: Nobody really gives a damn about any one else. Friends really aren't friends. Parents are just interested in their children performing a role. Work is not fulfilling. Psychiatrists can't wait to get rid of their patients. This book depicts a world that is not a good place, especially for a mentally ill person.

This is typical Yates. The theme is dark. There are no heroes. Alcohol abounds. Spirituality is absent. The prose is sparse and economical. The setting is mainly the early '60...more In this book: Nobody really gives a damn about any one else. Friends really aren't friends. Parents are just interested in their children performing a role. Work is not fulfilling. Psychiatrists can't wait to get rid of their patients. This book depicts a world that is not a good place, especially for a mentally ill person.

This is typical Yates. The theme is dark. There are no heroes. Alcohol abounds. Spirituality is absent. The prose is sparse and economical. The setting is mainly the early '60s in NYC.

I enjoyed this book, but 'enjoy' doesn't always seem like the right word. So much of this stuff just rings true. I often say 'Yeah, I observe that too' when reading this book. Beyond the 'observational fiction', there is a 'meaty story' with a hook to it. There are ups and downs. There are interesting happenings. There is even the 'cool aspect' of a story within a story. I was interested in what is going to happen with our protagonist, even though he is not a guy that I would like. Except for a problem with his reading, our protagonist could be considered the 'anti-Forrest Gump'.

I think Yates is both enhanced and limited by his secularistic style of writing (exhibited in this book as well as others of his). I think the enhancement comes because Yates is probably accurately depicting his NYC milieu. I think the limitation comes because there is an obvious lack of perspective when one takes a totally secular approach to life (and ignores the 'spiritual'). Yates' NYC milieu is a little bit of a challenge for me, as the 'happy hour after work' and 'drinks with lunch' world is a bit removed from my suburban world.

Although I do know that there are 'Yates fans' that do not care for this book, I can not fathom that. Thinking about it, it seems inevitable that Yates would write a book with a mentally ill person as the protagonist. Mental illness is not a much of a stretch from 'the normal' in Yates' world.

And as far as the lack of redemption here (or in other Yates' stories), that doesn't bother me. Redemption is something for us to work out in the real world. A book like this just reinforces the 'notion' that redemption isn't easy to come by (and doesn't always come). And perhaps that (the difficulty of redemption) is a more 'redemption-friendly message' than one gets in entertainment that offers 'connect the dots' redemption. Not that I don't mind a little 'connect the dots' redemption. I just re-watched and enjoyed the first Rocky movie.(less)

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Nov 25, 2008 Mike rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Cynics, unapologetic optimists (because, well, fuck them)

"But at the same time he was mildly relieved: with her out of the place it would be possible to drink at any time of day, even in the morning"

Richard Yates - the long lost original hero and champion of post-war suburban malaise and discontent - follows up his most well known novel, Revolutionary Road, with Disturbing the Peace. Hailed as "America's finest realistic novelist" sums up the narrative of John Wilder, a man so desperately lost in his degenerate and subversive marriage and career (resp...more

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Apr 15, 2009 teresa rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

typical yates: depression, alcoholism, disappointment with modern american middle class life....

i find that i see it a little different now that I have seen Mad Men.

I also find myself actually feeling sorry for the male characters more than I did in Revolutionary Road.

after finishing:
blah.

I think Yates captured the descent into madness well. In the beginning of the novel I felt that the main character had been hospitalized under false pretenses but the novel illustrates the slide into madnes...more

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Nov 25, 2009 Sara rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult-fiction

I have no idea who the audience for this book is supposed to be, I don't understand the point, and whoever at the Boston Globe wrote that this book is "First-rate, a devastating novel that won't let go," must have written a review after looking at the picture on the cover.
Sorry, Mr. Yates, but your book has little plot, less theme, and no redemption. No character in literature has ever gone insane with less style.

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Aug 03, 2009 Robin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is by the same author who penned, Revolutionary Road. Richard Yates writes another study of middle class suburbanites. This is a story about an advertising man who was bored in his marriage and had a drinking problem. This became exacerbated by anxiety and paranoia episodes. This book takes place during the 60s during the early years of treating these problems with drugs. The writing pulls you in so you feel like you are experiencing these halluciations and trying to figure out what's...more

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Mar 22, 2012 Bernard rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I discovered Richard Yates reading "disturbing the peace". I loved his writing style, very sharp, I love hte flavour of his sotires because the yshow how the deep psychological layers of character shape everyday's life human behaviour, in family, with friends, at work. I am also fascinated by the 50's suburbia lifestyle and the contrast of the supposedly ideal life and the depression it generates in people.

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May 17, 2013 Justin Carroll rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

To be sure, Yates is one of the great American writers of the twentieth century. This novel, however, doesn't represent his strongest work. While it has great dialogue, and the depictions of mental illness are vivid and thorough, Disturbing the Peace wasn't as good as other works by Yates. First of all, Yates bookends this novel with the a different POV than is chiefly the case (it starts and ends with Janice, John Wilder's wife; most of the book is in John's POV), but this shift shows nothing o...more

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About Richard Yates

Richard Yates, or Dickie, shone bright upon the publication of his first novel, Revolutionary Road, which was nominated for the National Book Award in 1961. It drew unbridled praise and branded Yates an important, new writer. Kurt Vonnegut claimed that Revolutionary Road was The Great Gatsby of his time. William Sytron described it as "A deft, ironic, beautiful novel that deserves to be a classic....more Richard Yates, or Dickie, shone bright upon the publication of his first novel, Revolutionary Road, which was nominated for the National Book Award in 1961. It drew unbridled praise and branded Yates an important, new writer. Kurt Vonnegut claimed that Revolutionary Road was The Great Gatsby of his time. William Sytron described it as "A deft, ironic, beautiful novel that deserves to be a classic." Tennessee Williams went one further and said, "Here is more than fine writing; here is what, added to fine writing, makes a book come immediately, intensely, and brilliantly alive. If more is needed to make a masterpiece in modern American fiction, I am sure I don't know what it is."

In 1962 Eleven Kinds of Loneliness was published, his first collection of short stories. It too had praise heaped upon it. Kurt Vonnegut said it was "the best short-story collection ever written by an American."

Yates' writing skills were further utilized when, upon returning from Los Angeles, he began working as a speechwriter for then-Senator Robert F. Kennedy until the assassination of JFK. From there he moved onto Iowa where, as a creative writing teacher, he would influence and inspire writers such as Andre Dubus and Dewitt Henry.

His third novel, Disturbing the Peace, was published in 1975. Perhaps his second most well-known novel, [booK: The Easter Parade], was published in 1976. The story follows the lives of the Grimes sisters and ends in typical Yatesian fashion, replicating the disappointed lives of Revolutionary Road.

However, Yates began to find himself as a writer cut adrift in a sea fast turning towards postmodernism; yet, he would stay true to realism. His heroes and influences remained the classics of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Flaubert and short-story master, Chekov.

It was to his school and army days that Richard turned to for his next novel, A Good School, which was quickly followed by his second collection of short stories, Liars in Love. Young Hearts Crying emerged in 1984 followed two years later with Cold Spring Harbour, which would prove to be his final completed novel.

Like the fate of his hero, Flaubert, whose novel Madame Bovary influenced Revolutionary Road and The Easter Parade, Richard Yates' works are enjoying a posthumous renaissance, attracting newly devoted fans across the Atlantic and beyond. (less)

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