false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174351433m/385002.jpg 385002 6 Although nobody would describe the unflinching stories of Richard Yates as beach reading, a sunny day and a soothing breeze may provide the best possible antidote to the author's trademark gloom. But even if you open the book in the dead of winter, don't expect to put it down, for Yates will draw you in despite yourself. Like the English novelist Anita Brookner--or, more to the point, like his protégé Raymond Carver--he is attracted to small lives. And like a diviner, he seeks out and locates precisely those moments when this smallness is sensed by his characters.<p> The protagonist of "The Canal," for example, spent most of World War II behind a desk, serving on the European front only during the final months of the conflict. At a postwar cocktail party, however, Miller and his wife encounter a former military officer, and the two begin to exchange stories. It turns out that the officer was decorated for valor in the very same battle that occasioned a major dressing-down for Miller. "I'll put it this way," he was told by his exasperated superior. "You give me more goddamn trouble than all the rest of the men in this squad put together. You're more goddamn trouble than you're worth. You got an answer for that?" Obviously he didn't--and still doesn't.<p> In an introduction to the 27 stories collected here, Richard Russo celebrates Yates's influence as a teacher at the Iowa Writer's Workshop. Any reader of Raymond Carver, to take just one conspicuous example, will recognize the atmosphere of lonely despair, coupled with small ambitions, that he absorbed from his mentor. It's a fascinating study in literary ancestry, and offers yet another reason to pick up this essential and long-overdue volume. <I>--Regina Marler</I> 47290 2001 The Collected Stories of Richard Yates total:402|5:209|4:155|3:31|2:6|1:1| 402 1771 636 40 5 1 false false Sat Aug 11 21:04:32 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 11 21:20:01 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Sep 02 19:31:22 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 02 19:33:55 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 26 12:29:14 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 26 12:33:33 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Nov 10 10:42:53 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 10 10:42:53 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Feb 23 21:55:48 -0800 2007 Sat Feb 24 08:26:34 -0800 2007 Richard Yates chronicles the delusions, lost dreams and disappointments of everyday people. The addictive thing about these stories is how he zeroes in on the dreadful details -- the things we want to forget - the sad, sorry moments and chapters of our lives - yet Yates hits them with such dead ac...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 19 05:42:13 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 27 08:06:17 -0700 2009
reading this & watching season 2 of Mad Men led me to wonder: in the 1960s, was absolutely everyone miserably grasping for something (happiness?) just out of reach?

n.b. the short introduction in this book by richard russo...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 11 23:12:26 -0700 2009 Sun Nov 01 10:39:57 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Mar 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 17 05:27:40 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 30 15:16:29 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Mar 19 13:56:01 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 19 13:56:01 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Fri Oct 03 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 07 05:45:36 -0700 2008 Sun Oct 05 20:13:34 -0700 2008 Richard Yates, this collection of short stories does not disappoint. Despite common themes throughout, each story is unique and an equally exceptional example of the craft. It is Yates at his best, as high caliber as Revolutionary Road and The Easter Parade I enjoyed every page of this aweso...more...]]> 1 0 false false Sun Feb 01 12:18:20 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 01 12:46:29 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Sep 09 20:18:14 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 20:18:48 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Jul 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 24 04:19:34 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 06:42:57 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Wed Feb 11 13:48:17 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 11 13:48:46 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sun Mar 01 14:09:07 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 01 14:09:48 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Jul 07 18:35:10 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 29 14:55:05 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 13 14:54:19 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 19 16:34:14 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Mon Jul 02 08:09:00 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 05 17:13:38 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Mar 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 02 18:29:37 -0800 2009 Thu Mar 19 18:52:59 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Wed Dec 03 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Oct 22 10:46:44 -0700 2008 Sat Jan 03 07:47:23 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=385002