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Un destin d'exception
1944, NY. Robert Prentice a dix-huit ans et s'apprête à rejoindre l'Europe pour servir son pays. Il a passé toute sa jeunesse à résister à l'étouffante présence de sa mère, Alice, en butte avec ses démons et ses ambitions extravagantes. Divorcée d'un honnête homme, apprentie sculptrice, elle s'est toujours sentie appelée à vivre un destin d'exception. Son cher Bobby, seul allié des années de tourmente, a vu son enfance hypothéquée, ses études sacrifiées, et a dû endurer les compagnons de fortune, les dettes honteuses et les déménagements à la cloche de bois.
Aujourd'hui, engagé comme le reste de sa génération dans le corps militaire, il va pouvoir montrer à tous - et surtout à lui-même - qu'il n'est pas qu'un fils, le fils d'Alice Prentice, posant nu tel un faune, sous les yeux moqueurs des jeunes voisins, pour aider sa mère à donner forme à ses délires. La guerre lui offre enfin l'opportunité de devenir un homme, un vrai, capable de trouver sa place au sein d'une franche camaraderie de garnison et de s'illustrer dans de hauts faits de combats.
Abreuvé d'idéalisme, nourri d'héroïsme hollywoodien, il croit, lui aussi, à son destin d'exception. Mais, à la guerre comme à la ville, il comprendra qu'il y a beaucoup d'appelés, mais peu d'élus... Deux itinéraires, deux âmes blessées : Robert, par sa guerre ratée, Alice, par ses rêves insensés. Et pourtant, chacun garde toujours l'espoir d'une seconde chance possible, un jour, ailleurs. Dans un roman ouvertement autobiographique, Richard Yates fait le portrait d'une Amérique sans pitié, irrémédiablement en quête d'elle-même.
Aujourd'hui, engagé comme le reste de sa génération dans le corps militaire, il va pouvoir montrer à tous - et surtout à lui-même - qu'il n'est pas qu'un fils, le fils d'Alice Prentice, posant nu tel un faune, sous les yeux moqueurs des jeunes voisins, pour aider sa mère à donner forme à ses délires. La guerre lui offre enfin l'opportunité de devenir un homme, un vrai, capable de trouver sa place au sein d'une franche camaraderie de garnison et de s'illustrer dans de hauts faits de combats.
Abreuvé d'idéalisme, nourri d'héroïsme hollywoodien, il croit, lui aussi, à son destin d'exception. Mais, à la guerre comme à la ville, il comprendra qu'il y a beaucoup d'appelés, mais peu d'élus... Deux itinéraires, deux âmes blessées : Robert, par sa guerre ratée, Alice, par ses rêves insensés. Et pourtant, chacun garde toujours l'espoir d'une seconde chance possible, un jour, ailleurs. Dans un roman ouvertement autobiographique, Richard Yates fait le portrait d'une Amérique sans pitié, irrémédiablement en quête d'elle-même.
321 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
32 people are currently reading
1169 people want to read
About the author
Richard Yates
75 books2,259 followersRichard Yates 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 Styron 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, 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.
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, 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.
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January 9, 2024
IL BEATO MONDO DELLE ILLUSIONI
Elliott Erwitt: New York City (1946).
Il beato mondo delle illusioni è quello che Yates ha bisogno di frustare e frustrare sin dall’incipit. Il mondo letterario di Richard Yates è popolato di tante, e tanti, epigoni di Emma Bovary, la splendida creatura del suo grande maestro Flaubert.
E, nel suo mondo narrativo, le illusioni si mostrano soprattutto con i sogni di gloria artistica (di solito, scrittura, pittura, o, come in questo caso, scultura). Cosa potrebbe esserci di più frustrante per chi sente d’avere il sacro fuoco per la scultura dover lavorare in una fabbrica di manichini?!
Elliott Erwitt: New York City (1948).
Ci vuole poco a capire che il primo illuso credeva di essere lui stesso: finché in vita, i suoi romanzi e racconti non hanno mai venduto granché, il guadagno migliore arrivava da quella frustrazione che è la scrittura cinematografica. Frustrazione perché per uno al perenne inseguimento del “mot juste”, le sceneggiature dovevano essere quanto di più deludente si possa immaginare: però pagavano, più che dignitosamente, e ben più della narrativa.
E poi c’era la frustrazione d’aver esordito con quello che per molti è stato il suo capolavoro: impossibile ripetersi, men che meno superarsi (non dal mio punto di vista, per me ci sono altri titoli a quella altezza, a cominciare da Easter parade).
Elliott Erwitt: New York City (1955).
E quindi vorrei-ma-non-posso, e quindi speranze deluse, e quindi perdenti, e quindi personaggi che falliscono il sogno americano, e quindi impotenza.
Tutti personaggi che appartengono alla classe media, mai più su e mai più giù.
Tutti personaggi che inseguono, senza mai riuscire a raggiungerlo neppure di striscio, quel quarto d’ora di celebrità che Warhol negli stessi anni Sessanta profetizzò per tutti (A Special Providence – Sotto una buona stella fu pubblicato nel 1969).
Come dire, il solito buon vecchio Richard Yates. Per fortuna, aggiungo, visto che io lo adoro, e purtroppo con questo ho letto tutti e sette i suoi romanzi (secondo in ordine di pubblicazione, a otto anni di distanza dal celebre capolavoro).
Elliott Erwitt: New York City (1955).
Quanto sono affascinanti questi perdenti di Yates! Non perché assurgano a titani della sconfitta, non perché la scrittura li trasformi in modelli esemplari della miseria umana. Ma forse perché Yates sa ritrarli con discrezione, pur dando l’apparenza di non risparmiare loro nulla (in quattro parole è capace di stoccate a fondo), spalma la sensazione del pudore, di profonda pietas umana pur riuscendo spietato. Anche in assenza di scene memorabili, quanto appaiono interessanti le loro vicende, che sono quelle più o meno banali di chiunque, con niente di speciale. Eppure… Queste creature che sembrano venute al mondo già messe in un angolo – cos’è che determina la loro posizione marginale, la vita o una loro predisposizione? – mi inchiodano alla pagina.
Elliott Erwitt: New York City (1953).
Elliott Erwitt: New York City (1949).
Elliott Erwitt: New York City (1946).
Il beato mondo delle illusioni è quello che Yates ha bisogno di frustare e frustrare sin dall’incipit. Il mondo letterario di Richard Yates è popolato di tante, e tanti, epigoni di Emma Bovary, la splendida creatura del suo grande maestro Flaubert.
E, nel suo mondo narrativo, le illusioni si mostrano soprattutto con i sogni di gloria artistica (di solito, scrittura, pittura, o, come in questo caso, scultura). Cosa potrebbe esserci di più frustrante per chi sente d’avere il sacro fuoco per la scultura dover lavorare in una fabbrica di manichini?!
Elliott Erwitt: New York City (1948).
Ci vuole poco a capire che il primo illuso credeva di essere lui stesso: finché in vita, i suoi romanzi e racconti non hanno mai venduto granché, il guadagno migliore arrivava da quella frustrazione che è la scrittura cinematografica. Frustrazione perché per uno al perenne inseguimento del “mot juste”, le sceneggiature dovevano essere quanto di più deludente si possa immaginare: però pagavano, più che dignitosamente, e ben più della narrativa.
E poi c’era la frustrazione d’aver esordito con quello che per molti è stato il suo capolavoro: impossibile ripetersi, men che meno superarsi (non dal mio punto di vista, per me ci sono altri titoli a quella altezza, a cominciare da Easter parade).
Elliott Erwitt: New York City (1955).
E quindi vorrei-ma-non-posso, e quindi speranze deluse, e quindi perdenti, e quindi personaggi che falliscono il sogno americano, e quindi impotenza.
Tutti personaggi che appartengono alla classe media, mai più su e mai più giù.
Tutti personaggi che inseguono, senza mai riuscire a raggiungerlo neppure di striscio, quel quarto d’ora di celebrità che Warhol negli stessi anni Sessanta profetizzò per tutti (A Special Providence – Sotto una buona stella fu pubblicato nel 1969).
Come dire, il solito buon vecchio Richard Yates. Per fortuna, aggiungo, visto che io lo adoro, e purtroppo con questo ho letto tutti e sette i suoi romanzi (secondo in ordine di pubblicazione, a otto anni di distanza dal celebre capolavoro).
Elliott Erwitt: New York City (1955).
Quanto sono affascinanti questi perdenti di Yates! Non perché assurgano a titani della sconfitta, non perché la scrittura li trasformi in modelli esemplari della miseria umana. Ma forse perché Yates sa ritrarli con discrezione, pur dando l’apparenza di non risparmiare loro nulla (in quattro parole è capace di stoccate a fondo), spalma la sensazione del pudore, di profonda pietas umana pur riuscendo spietato. Anche in assenza di scene memorabili, quanto appaiono interessanti le loro vicende, che sono quelle più o meno banali di chiunque, con niente di speciale. Eppure… Queste creature che sembrano venute al mondo già messe in un angolo – cos’è che determina la loro posizione marginale, la vita o una loro predisposizione? – mi inchiodano alla pagina.
Elliott Erwitt: New York City (1953).
Elliott Erwitt: New York City (1949).
September 6, 2022
If there's one person who can get me to read a war novel then that person is Richard Yates. This is a war novel--it explores the chaos of war, WWII specifically--and at the same time it isn't. It's as much a book about a mother and her son--a mother's love for her son, and a son's love for his mother. Alice Prentice is a sculptor (of course) who drinks a little too much (of course) and is just a little lonely (of course). Her son, Robert Prentice, is no soldier, however much he would like to be. To him war is nothing but something he's seen in the movies. Besides which, one soldier is as insignificant and forgettable and replaceable as another--mere cogs in the machinery of war. Is death or disfigurement the only way to attain distinction in combat? And what does distinction in combat really amount to in the end? This is top form Yates--Yates as a brutal crusher of tender dreams. It is spectacular in terms of prose as well as character, and serves as the perfect remedy to Cold Spring Harbor.
June 22, 2010
Richard Yates understands people's pretensions and self-delusions better than any writer I've read. He gets that when people stomp out of a room, there's a small movie playing in their head in which a person stomps out of a room. He gets that, even in war, people are sometimes brave because they like the idea of being brave, not necessarily because they want to protect their country. In Revolutionary Road, this reality was profoundly depressing (but still a great read). In this novel, which alternates between a young WWII soldier and his struggling sculptor mother, delusion is the fuel of hope. And maybe hope is a coping mechanism, but isn't it the least any of us deserve?
June 16, 2022
I am not going to recommend this to everyone. It is a tough read. It is depressing. The author’s other books haven’t struck me as being so depressing.
The book is about loneliness and the mediocrity of man. Despair and disillusionment set the tone.
The story has two threads, one is about a son and the other his mom. She’s an artist, a painter and a sculptress. We observe the son’s path toward maturity and independence. The tale is in this respect a coming of age story. He goes into the Second World War as an immature kid. His war experiences inevitably transform him into an adult.
The difficulties of the war years shape the mother too. She struggles with both her art and her personal relationships. We observe the dichotomy between one’s hopes, dreams and plans versus the nitty-gritty of everyday life. The question that arises is how close to one’s dreams is close enough. At what level of success should a person be satisfied?
In reading this book, I recognize the world of my parents. The details ring true--the jingles and songs sung, the clothes worn, the food eaten, but even more importantly the expectations that set the mood of the era. The book gave me an opportunity to compare my parents’ view of life with those of the book’s characters. I recognize both similarities and differences. The setting is both New York and the Midwest. The world of art and advertising and the expectation that you will and you must make something of yourself mirror the times perfectly. War memories play in too, as do disappointments and one’s inability to achieve that which is expected.
We aren’t given an idealistic story about heroes. That which is drawn is the reality of the “after the war” period and ordinary, mediocre persons. It rings true for me. This is why I think the book is worth four stars, not because it’s a fun read.
The audiobook is read by Jeff Woodman and Suzanne Tören. Woodman’s narration is very good. He reads the son’s and other men’s lines. I smiled at how he has Americans speaking French. Very funny! Their French is really bad. Bad but amusing. His narration is clear and easy to follow. Tören narrates the mom’s lines—her letters, thoughts and conversations. Her tone is treble in pitch, thin and nerve-wracking to listen to, but I do think the intonation fits the character well. So one can say, the lines are read as they should be read. I am therefore willing to give both four stars for their narration.
********************
*Revolutionary Road 5 stars
*Disturbing the Peace 4 stars
*The Easter Parade 4 stars
*A Special Providence 4 stars
*Cold Spring Harbor 1 star
*Young Hearts Crying TBR
The book is about loneliness and the mediocrity of man. Despair and disillusionment set the tone.
The story has two threads, one is about a son and the other his mom. She’s an artist, a painter and a sculptress. We observe the son’s path toward maturity and independence. The tale is in this respect a coming of age story. He goes into the Second World War as an immature kid. His war experiences inevitably transform him into an adult.
The difficulties of the war years shape the mother too. She struggles with both her art and her personal relationships. We observe the dichotomy between one’s hopes, dreams and plans versus the nitty-gritty of everyday life. The question that arises is how close to one’s dreams is close enough. At what level of success should a person be satisfied?
In reading this book, I recognize the world of my parents. The details ring true--the jingles and songs sung, the clothes worn, the food eaten, but even more importantly the expectations that set the mood of the era. The book gave me an opportunity to compare my parents’ view of life with those of the book’s characters. I recognize both similarities and differences. The setting is both New York and the Midwest. The world of art and advertising and the expectation that you will and you must make something of yourself mirror the times perfectly. War memories play in too, as do disappointments and one’s inability to achieve that which is expected.
We aren’t given an idealistic story about heroes. That which is drawn is the reality of the “after the war” period and ordinary, mediocre persons. It rings true for me. This is why I think the book is worth four stars, not because it’s a fun read.
The audiobook is read by Jeff Woodman and Suzanne Tören. Woodman’s narration is very good. He reads the son’s and other men’s lines. I smiled at how he has Americans speaking French. Very funny! Their French is really bad. Bad but amusing. His narration is clear and easy to follow. Tören narrates the mom’s lines—her letters, thoughts and conversations. Her tone is treble in pitch, thin and nerve-wracking to listen to, but I do think the intonation fits the character well. So one can say, the lines are read as they should be read. I am therefore willing to give both four stars for their narration.
********************
*Revolutionary Road 5 stars
*Disturbing the Peace 4 stars
*The Easter Parade 4 stars
*A Special Providence 4 stars
*Cold Spring Harbor 1 star
*Young Hearts Crying TBR
May 18, 2025
What makes this Yates novel slightly different than his other famous ones, like "Revolutionary Road" and "The Easter Parade" is that one of his two protagonists, Robert Prentice, is a fighter during World War II.
The novel juxtaposes the horrors of war, and how Prentice becomes a numb man, haunted by what he's seen. His mother, the narcissistic Alice, is more in the vein of a doomed Yates protagonist. Consumed by her desire to become an artist, and desperate for money and a life of acceptance becomes her undoing.
Prentice and Alice's stories overlap with desperation and of a looking back in anger that they are not able to get what they want. However, though this novel is just as well-written as his other works, this Yates novel left me feeling slightly cold, where I could not find any hidden depths of humanity that I have found in his other novels featuring sad-sack characters.
The novel juxtaposes the horrors of war, and how Prentice becomes a numb man, haunted by what he's seen. His mother, the narcissistic Alice, is more in the vein of a doomed Yates protagonist. Consumed by her desire to become an artist, and desperate for money and a life of acceptance becomes her undoing.
Prentice and Alice's stories overlap with desperation and of a looking back in anger that they are not able to get what they want. However, though this novel is just as well-written as his other works, this Yates novel left me feeling slightly cold, where I could not find any hidden depths of humanity that I have found in his other novels featuring sad-sack characters.
March 3, 2024
Zadie Smith'in kitap hakkındaki yorumunda belirttiği gibi "Tiffany'de Kahvaltı ile Batı Cephesinde Yeni Bir Şey Yok bir araya gelmiş sanki" diyor bana göre ise Çavdar Tarlasında Çocuklar kitabından tatlı bir esinti.
May 17, 2021
Forse non sarà stato, per i miei gusti, uno dei romanzi migliori di Yates (se penso a “Revolutionary Road” piuttosto che a “Easter Parade” o a “Disturbo della quiete pubblica”) ma anche “Sotto una buona stella” è l’esempio del suo talento e della sua bravura, nonché della sua capacità di raccontare le delusioni, le frustrazioni, le disillusioni e il senso di sconfitta dei suoi protagonisti anti-eroi, alle prese con la durezza e le difficoltà della vita.
Qui la vicenda ruota attorno a due personaggi principali: Alice, una madre eccentrica e ingombrante e il figlio, Bobby, che, cresciuto fragile e disadattato, si arruola con l’esercito americano al fronte francese per poi scoprire, con amarezza, di non essere l’eroe cui aspirava a diventare.
Non è quindi un “romanzo di guerra”, come sarebbe facile credere, bensì su tutto ciò che le sta attorno, compreso quell’impulso, quel senso di ambizione, di ricerca di rivalsa che essa aveva rappresentato, per lo più falsamente, per molti giovani americani dell’epoca. Ma è anche e soprattutto, come tutti i titoli di Yates, un romanzo che esplora le sottili dinamiche familiari della società americana, e i loro fallimenti.
Ancora adesso mi chiedo come sia possibile che Richard Yates sia rimasto nascosto così a lungo. Per chi ancora non l’avesse fatto, è il caso di recuperare e di leggere tutti i suoi romanzi pubblicati in Italia. Senza indugio.
Qui la vicenda ruota attorno a due personaggi principali: Alice, una madre eccentrica e ingombrante e il figlio, Bobby, che, cresciuto fragile e disadattato, si arruola con l’esercito americano al fronte francese per poi scoprire, con amarezza, di non essere l’eroe cui aspirava a diventare.
Non è quindi un “romanzo di guerra”, come sarebbe facile credere, bensì su tutto ciò che le sta attorno, compreso quell’impulso, quel senso di ambizione, di ricerca di rivalsa che essa aveva rappresentato, per lo più falsamente, per molti giovani americani dell’epoca. Ma è anche e soprattutto, come tutti i titoli di Yates, un romanzo che esplora le sottili dinamiche familiari della società americana, e i loro fallimenti.
Ancora adesso mi chiedo come sia possibile che Richard Yates sia rimasto nascosto così a lungo. Per chi ancora non l’avesse fatto, è il caso di recuperare e di leggere tutti i suoi romanzi pubblicati in Italia. Senza indugio.
March 20, 2024
En sevdiğim yazarlardan biri olan Richard Yates’in okumadığım birkaç kitabından biriydi Özel Bir Yazgı. (Nedense Türkçe edisyonu ayrı bir kitap olarak girilmiş Goodreads’e) Nasıl buldum konusuna gelirsek, önceki kitaplarına göre biraz “değişik” buldum. Genelde şehirde, banliyöde geçen hikayeler yazan Yates bu defa bizi İkinci Dünya Savaşı’nda cepheye götürüyor. Bu tam anlamıyla bir savaş romanı değil belki ama büyük kısmı savaşta geçen bir roman var elimizde. Yazara özgü temalar yine kendine yer buluyor; başarısız sanatçı figürü, karakterlerde okuyucuyu depresyona sokabilecek bir iyimserlik (budalalık) ve hayatın her yanına sızmış buram buram hayal kırıklığı.
Romanın öyküsüne gelirsek, bir anne oğulun hikayesini anlatıyor yazar. Alice başarısız bir heykeltıraş, kocasından boşandıktan sonra nefret ettiği işlerde çalışarak, şehirde ayakta duran (bazen de duramayan) bir bekar anne. Bir yandan hafif alkolik, diğer yandan hayatına birileri girip çıkıyor, sürekli bir oldurmaya çalışma halinde ama olduramayacağını da çok iyi anlıyoruz. Bu yüzden kendisinde gerçekleştiremediği her şeyi oğlu Robert’ta gerçekleştirmeyi hayal ediyor. Robert ise ayrı bir dünyada. Liseyi bitirir bitirmez, para kazanmak için orduya yazılıyor ve cepheye gidiyor. Robert’ın iç dünyasını uzun uzun anlatıyor bize yazar. Savaşta göstermeye çalıştığı cesareti, korkularıyla yüzleşme çabasını ve dünyayı anlama gayretini sayfalar boyu veriyor bize. Robert yer yer saf gibi dursa da aslında her şeyin farkında bir genç adam. Özellikle annesinin hayalini kurduğu hiçbir şeyin olmayacağını çok iyi biliyor ve en çok da annesine benzemekten korkuyor. Bunu kırmak için roman boyu çırpınıyor adeta.
Richard Yates genelde romanlarında karakterlerin bu çabasını sonuçsuz bırakan bir yazar. Yani karakterler uzunca bir süre durumun ne kadar kötü olduğunu görmezden gelerek yaşar, sonra bir yerde pes eder (anlarlar) ve hayatlarına öyle devam ederler. Burada ise farklı bir yola sokmuş karakterini. Sürprizi kaçırmamak için detayına giremiyorum ama Yates’in bu tercihini de ilginç buldum ve hoşuma gitti. Yazara başlamak için en doğru romanı değil kuşkusuz hatta okuduklarım arasında üst sıralarda da değil ama her şeye rağmen güçlü bir roman Özel Bir Yazgı. Özellikle prolog ve epilog kısımları ders niteliğinde.
Romanın öyküsüne gelirsek, bir anne oğulun hikayesini anlatıyor yazar. Alice başarısız bir heykeltıraş, kocasından boşandıktan sonra nefret ettiği işlerde çalışarak, şehirde ayakta duran (bazen de duramayan) bir bekar anne. Bir yandan hafif alkolik, diğer yandan hayatına birileri girip çıkıyor, sürekli bir oldurmaya çalışma halinde ama olduramayacağını da çok iyi anlıyoruz. Bu yüzden kendisinde gerçekleştiremediği her şeyi oğlu Robert’ta gerçekleştirmeyi hayal ediyor. Robert ise ayrı bir dünyada. Liseyi bitirir bitirmez, para kazanmak için orduya yazılıyor ve cepheye gidiyor. Robert’ın iç dünyasını uzun uzun anlatıyor bize yazar. Savaşta göstermeye çalıştığı cesareti, korkularıyla yüzleşme çabasını ve dünyayı anlama gayretini sayfalar boyu veriyor bize. Robert yer yer saf gibi dursa da aslında her şeyin farkında bir genç adam. Özellikle annesinin hayalini kurduğu hiçbir şeyin olmayacağını çok iyi biliyor ve en çok da annesine benzemekten korkuyor. Bunu kırmak için roman boyu çırpınıyor adeta.
Richard Yates genelde romanlarında karakterlerin bu çabasını sonuçsuz bırakan bir yazar. Yani karakterler uzunca bir süre durumun ne kadar kötü olduğunu görmezden gelerek yaşar, sonra bir yerde pes eder (anlarlar) ve hayatlarına öyle devam ederler. Burada ise farklı bir yola sokmuş karakterini. Sürprizi kaçırmamak için detayına giremiyorum ama Yates’in bu tercihini de ilginç buldum ve hoşuma gitti. Yazara başlamak için en doğru romanı değil kuşkusuz hatta okuduklarım arasında üst sıralarda da değil ama her şeye rağmen güçlü bir roman Özel Bir Yazgı. Özellikle prolog ve epilog kısımları ders niteliğinde.
January 29, 2010
Nice to see Yates leave the upper-middle class homes of the suburbs for the battlefields of world war II! All his usual preoccupations are here though: dilettante artists, men without any self-confidence to do what they want to, the stupidity and violence of most people. They're in a slightly different key to his better known books though. The key relationships here are between mother and son, or son and other men, rather than man and woman. It's a nice change actually. And makes me feel plenty guilty for moving so far away from my mum, while also providing some weird sort of justification for me moving so far away from her. Thank god she's nothing like Alice. Beautifully written as ever.
May 25, 2012
I've yet to discover an author who captures delusion and disillusion as well as Yates. Wonderfully flawed and self-conscious characters fumbling around with their inner demons, going nowhere fast, floundering in loneliness and desperation.
Alice Prentice is a wannabe artist in her 50's left wandering around her apartment alone with her regrets. Her son Bobby is 18 and a laughing stock as he fights in WWII. Not my favorite of Yate's work, but still wonderful and readable and sad.
Alice Prentice is a wannabe artist in her 50's left wandering around her apartment alone with her regrets. Her son Bobby is 18 and a laughing stock as he fights in WWII. Not my favorite of Yate's work, but still wonderful and readable and sad.
July 4, 2022
I think this was better than "Road". Or it moved me more. Or I relate to the delusions of Bobby and Alice more than Frank and April. But wow...
Maybe came out in the wrong year - '69. The subtlety was lost on a nation confronting change, change, change? This is not that. This is deepening what had come before. No reshaping the landscape of fiction here. No "Slaughterhouse".
What a genius. So grateful for all of his work.
Maybe came out in the wrong year - '69. The subtlety was lost on a nation confronting change, change, change? This is not that. This is deepening what had come before. No reshaping the landscape of fiction here. No "Slaughterhouse".
What a genius. So grateful for all of his work.
June 16, 2016
Essentially 2 books in one, the first being an intense WWII story, the second an intense single-mother with a little boy story. The structure is a little disjointed, but ultimately makes the end result incredibly powerful. Richard Yates has to be the most genuinely realistic writer I've read (after only 2 books), in dialogue and character development. All the scenes and lines and inner thoughts are so unbelievably genuine and affecting, it becomes a tough book to put down, even at its most bleak. A great story about masculinity, motherhood, freedom, disappointment and survival.
February 3, 2023
Mediocrità e disillusione, speranze fallite, un bel mix per un romanzo impeccabile che ti prende allo stomaco, esseri umani tristemente imperfetti sullo sfondo della Seconda Guerra Mondiale.
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November 16, 2020Fuck you Richard. Why did you do that to me? And why do I continue to let you do that to me?
We have two interlaced narratives, both of which are united at the beginning of the novel. We have Robert, the soldier in World War II doing his damnedest to remain human in inhuman circumstances, and we have his mother, Alice, a classic Yates character – the pathetic failed artist. The two are further proof of Yates' mastery as an architect of characterization, a biographer of the unloved who are almost but not quite unlovable, and as a true empath. You are there with each and every one of their agonies.
We have two interlaced narratives, both of which are united at the beginning of the novel. We have Robert, the soldier in World War II doing his damnedest to remain human in inhuman circumstances, and we have his mother, Alice, a classic Yates character – the pathetic failed artist. The two are further proof of Yates' mastery as an architect of characterization, a biographer of the unloved who are almost but not quite unlovable, and as a true empath. You are there with each and every one of their agonies.
June 10, 2020
Oerdegelijk en erg vlot lezend relaas van een soldaat wiens oorlog er nooit echt één is. Gebukt onder de druk van een overbezorgde en compleet onwereldse moeder, getormenteerd door zijn eigen klunzigheid en getergd door schuldgevoel over een vroeg gesneuvelde vriend, probeert Bobby Prentice zich thuis te voelen in zijn peloton. Daar slaagt hij niet echt in en voor hij het weet is de oorlog voorbij. Het moment om komaf te maken met zijn schuldgevoel én de dominantie van zijn opvoeding.
Knap.
Knap.
March 10, 2014
After finishing this book, I have noticed how the author, Richard Yates, depicts characterization throughout telling his story. For instance, the protagonist Bobby Prentice, is seen as a very difficult man who does not really show his emotions. His mother, Alice Prentice, plays a major role in his life, because growing up with only her made him change his view towards the world. Furthermore, he eventually decides to transform into a soldier and enter World War II after high school. Although Alice and Bobby share a deep relationship, Bobby does not want to become the person his mother turned to be, which is in the lines of getting into despair of hope.
Throughout the book, the author's strongest component of this book are his characters. Toward the ending of the book, Bobby's childhood is described.The young boy and his mother, Alice, struggle to survive and become viable, and the boy is seen as the tuff one. One thing that constantly stood out to me was that the author had intensions to describe how every character would be seen in the past and future. There were major bits in the book that described Bobby's childhood, and his point of view on his mother- and her boyfriend. Bobby's Mother, Alice, was not that great of a mother figure through her actions and lack of hope, yet Bobby remains to have a vivid goal in life. Bobby decides to stay in Germany and explore himself more, rather than dealing with his mother- who does not have a set goal of her life. I find this book very interesting and different than other books, because I see the power of a man, a soldier, a son, and especially a unique 18 year old. I also have very strong goals yet to reach, and I know I can be seen as another Bobby trying to fulfill them all!
Throughout the book, the author's strongest component of this book are his characters. Toward the ending of the book, Bobby's childhood is described.The young boy and his mother, Alice, struggle to survive and become viable, and the boy is seen as the tuff one. One thing that constantly stood out to me was that the author had intensions to describe how every character would be seen in the past and future. There were major bits in the book that described Bobby's childhood, and his point of view on his mother- and her boyfriend. Bobby's Mother, Alice, was not that great of a mother figure through her actions and lack of hope, yet Bobby remains to have a vivid goal in life. Bobby decides to stay in Germany and explore himself more, rather than dealing with his mother- who does not have a set goal of her life. I find this book very interesting and different than other books, because I see the power of a man, a soldier, a son, and especially a unique 18 year old. I also have very strong goals yet to reach, and I know I can be seen as another Bobby trying to fulfill them all!
January 31, 2010
Well, this was refreshing - apparently Yates does know a world outside the suburban malaise. Of course there is still the desperation of people yearning for something 'interesting' but the change of venue was appreciated.
With his usual elegance, Yates conveys the parallel struggle of a mother and her son, he battling the Germans as well as his inner demons and she battling reality. Alice, a divorcee, is a sculptress and seems to feel above work of any kind, and so she and her coddled son end up swept into scheme after scheme only to find themselves in debt. What's more, Alice is a rather unlikable and witchy woman, irresponsible and thankless as she allows herself to be swept into bad situations and then chooses to blame everyone else.
IN the meantime Billy, her son, is the quintessential shlemazel; always behind the rest of the soldiers, sleeping on the job - a much more sympathetic if slightly flat character.
There isn't much plot but the characters are consistent and the prose is great. There was some growth on the part of the characters but in many ways they felt unredeemed to me. In fact the most growth is apparent on the last page but felt rather unsatisfactory to me in its hastened fashion.
Overall a good read if not comparable, I felt, to Revolutionary Road.
With his usual elegance, Yates conveys the parallel struggle of a mother and her son, he battling the Germans as well as his inner demons and she battling reality. Alice, a divorcee, is a sculptress and seems to feel above work of any kind, and so she and her coddled son end up swept into scheme after scheme only to find themselves in debt. What's more, Alice is a rather unlikable and witchy woman, irresponsible and thankless as she allows herself to be swept into bad situations and then chooses to blame everyone else.
IN the meantime Billy, her son, is the quintessential shlemazel; always behind the rest of the soldiers, sleeping on the job - a much more sympathetic if slightly flat character.
There isn't much plot but the characters are consistent and the prose is great. There was some growth on the part of the characters but in many ways they felt unredeemed to me. In fact the most growth is apparent on the last page but felt rather unsatisfactory to me in its hastened fashion.
Overall a good read if not comparable, I felt, to Revolutionary Road.
February 6, 2013
A typical Yates book with his familiar characters full of hopes and dreams that this cruel world in combination with their self consciousness will crush. The story telling accounts the life of Alice, a mother with artistic ambitions that won't pay the bill or the desired upper class life. In spite of this she blindly keeps faith and drags her son along in this hopeless travelling, moving and painful acts to keep up appearances. The other story line is made out of the boy's, Bobby, experiences in Europe as a soldier at the end of WW2. For me the final sentence of the book makes the whole read completely worthwhile. Spoiler alert! Bobby stays in Europe after the war, sends some money and wishes his mother well. He finally chooses his own path. Way the go
August 20, 2015
Mentre si avviavano per tornare a casa in ordine sparso, lui poté spostare lo sguardo dall'una all'altra di quelle figure che camminavano e parlavano e bearsi della semplice consapevolezza che quelli erano gli uomini del suo plotone. Questa era la sua squadra, questi erano gli uomini con i quali avrebbe attraversato il fiume e trovato quel che rimaneva della sua opportunità di espiare, quel che rimaneva della guerra.
August 26, 2011
Another genuine 5-starer, this novel talks of solitude, unflinching courage, self-doubt.... life.
A selfish mother who loves her son and yet cannot "get it together" for his sake; a son who is determined to grow and become a man despite her misgivings and desperate need to latch on. A war novel, with all the adventure of any, yet still primarily about humanity.
A selfish mother who loves her son and yet cannot "get it together" for his sake; a son who is determined to grow and become a man despite her misgivings and desperate need to latch on. A war novel, with all the adventure of any, yet still primarily about humanity.
October 28, 2020
Quattro stelle, o cinque? Non è perfetto e sublime come Cold Spring Harbor o Revolutionary Road, però è uno splendido romanzo, autentico e vero come tutti i romanzi di Yates, e va dritto al cuore. Alice Prentice è una protagonista indimenticabile, con la quale ho sperato e sofferto e fantasticato e perfino bevuto (perché leggendo Yates vien voglia di farsi un goccetto di whisky).
September 6, 2020
The order by which you read your favourite author's books is very important because if, like me, you begin with Richard Yates' best work ([I]Revolutionary Road[/I]), then follow it up with his second-best work ([I]The Easter Parade[/I]), then everything else after that is going to be a disappointment to some degree, or at least a few steps down in terms of quality. Over the years, I have been devouring Yates' books, and with [I]A Special Providence[/I], I believe I have come to the end of the journey. OK, I haven't read [I]A Good School[/I], but it also doesn't seem worthwhile? I don't know, we will see.
FOR NOW, A Special Providence will likely be the last Yates book I will read in a long time — or at least until I cycle back to the beginning, anyway. I cannot say that I ended the journey on a high, since I started it in the stratosphere, but there are a lot of fantastic things in here. In fact, I daresay that [I]A Special Providence[/I] is a lot better than some readers give it credit for.
For one, it is a departure from the usual archetypes that Yates is comfortable with. Yes, the two main characters are still sad, disillusioned individuals trying to navigate the pre- and post-war eras. Whatever you enjoy in Yates' other books are still well and alive here. However, unlike his other books, Yates seems to have made a conscious effort to depart from his formula. Instead of a marriage in dissolution, we have the complicated relationship between a troubled mother and her son; instead of the suburbs, huge chunks of this book is set in Europe, specifically during WWII. I think there is something commendable to say about Yates, who dared to stray out of his comfort zone to write about something so drastically different.
With that said, even though I do applaud the effort, the result is less than stellar. The third act of the book, which goes to great lengths to describe the son's experiences in war, is mundane and repetitive to say the least. I mean, that's the WHOLE POINT of the character's arc — wanting to make something for himself, but somehow always on the periphery of action. However, the third part of the book just dragged, and I thought it was more than enough to establish the irony when the son is admitted to the hospital, right before the heat of battle, due to pneumonia — somewhat reminiscent of Sam Mendes] 2005 film, Jarhead. I thought Yates nailed the message right on the head in the first third, and really added the last third because the publisher thought it'd be a good idea to add a bit more 'action' (in a Yates book? Come on!).
Outside of the European battlefields, though, I love how pathetic Alice, the mother, is throughout the book. She is the quintessential Yates character here; the one who's always trying to 'make it' with her artistic endeavours, always trying to live off other people, and generally just being an awful human being. Her chapters truly shine in this book and are what kept me going towards the end of the book.
FOR NOW, A Special Providence will likely be the last Yates book I will read in a long time — or at least until I cycle back to the beginning, anyway. I cannot say that I ended the journey on a high, since I started it in the stratosphere, but there are a lot of fantastic things in here. In fact, I daresay that [I]A Special Providence[/I] is a lot better than some readers give it credit for.
For one, it is a departure from the usual archetypes that Yates is comfortable with. Yes, the two main characters are still sad, disillusioned individuals trying to navigate the pre- and post-war eras. Whatever you enjoy in Yates' other books are still well and alive here. However, unlike his other books, Yates seems to have made a conscious effort to depart from his formula. Instead of a marriage in dissolution, we have the complicated relationship between a troubled mother and her son; instead of the suburbs, huge chunks of this book is set in Europe, specifically during WWII. I think there is something commendable to say about Yates, who dared to stray out of his comfort zone to write about something so drastically different.
With that said, even though I do applaud the effort, the result is less than stellar. The third act of the book, which goes to great lengths to describe the son's experiences in war, is mundane and repetitive to say the least. I mean, that's the WHOLE POINT of the character's arc — wanting to make something for himself, but somehow always on the periphery of action. However, the third part of the book just dragged, and I thought it was more than enough to establish the irony when the son is admitted to the hospital, right before the heat of battle, due to pneumonia — somewhat reminiscent of Sam Mendes] 2005 film, Jarhead. I thought Yates nailed the message right on the head in the first third, and really added the last third because the publisher thought it'd be a good idea to add a bit more 'action' (in a Yates book? Come on!).
Outside of the European battlefields, though, I love how pathetic Alice, the mother, is throughout the book. She is the quintessential Yates character here; the one who's always trying to 'make it' with her artistic endeavours, always trying to live off other people, and generally just being an awful human being. Her chapters truly shine in this book and are what kept me going towards the end of the book.
December 25, 2024
This is one of the great forgotten American novels. The story of how it was written, is as interesting as the book itself. Yates - teaching at the University of Iowa - found the space to put the traumatic experience of his first twenty years to paper. During the writing of the book, he taught alongside Kurt Vonnegut, married a second time and had a third daughter. The emotional security of that time, allowed him to wrestle with his early years: this book is the result.
No, this is not a masterpiece in the same vein as Revolutionary Road or his short stories, but is a book for hardcore Yates fans looking to understand his formative years. The narrative switches between rich depictions of Yate's life (as Bob Prentice in the book) with his single, alcoholic mother in Great Depression New York (and the surrounding small towns and counties) and the confusing, brutal life of being a low grade infantryman in Europe in the last weeks of the war. This was Yate's experience, and he does not make himself a hero in any sense.
There are beautiful descriptive flourishes that somehow seem so American, planes remind Prentice of 'planes that spelled Pepsi cola over Manhattan in the summer'. The small scenes about what soldiers do are for my money some of the best written, for example after taking over a small town in France the following passage takes place:
'LT Agate was at the teachers desk, sweeping away the papers onto the floor to make room for his helmet, carbine and bottle of brandy..'will the class come to order please?' Agate called out in a mincing, womanly voice, 'the first lesson today will be- oh lets see, spelling'. He leaned back against the cloudy blackboard, picked up a piece of chalk and threw it at Magills head. 'All right for you Billy Magill, stay after school'. And he broke up into spasms of giggling, drunken laughter.
Yup, it's dated, but definitely is a more human depiction of drafted infantrymen likely acted like. Meanwhile in the Great Depression sequences, characters come in and out of Bob Prentice's life. All father figures the mother desperately looks for end up being ultimately disappointing, abandoning them, cheating them etc.
Their salvation in the book comes from an air conditioned Hilton Hotel in Austin, Texas.
Give it a read if you want something very American, yet very dark. This book deserves more praise and was a commercial failure and out of print for decades. I have a first edition, which is what got me reading it.
No, this is not a masterpiece in the same vein as Revolutionary Road or his short stories, but is a book for hardcore Yates fans looking to understand his formative years. The narrative switches between rich depictions of Yate's life (as Bob Prentice in the book) with his single, alcoholic mother in Great Depression New York (and the surrounding small towns and counties) and the confusing, brutal life of being a low grade infantryman in Europe in the last weeks of the war. This was Yate's experience, and he does not make himself a hero in any sense.
There are beautiful descriptive flourishes that somehow seem so American, planes remind Prentice of 'planes that spelled Pepsi cola over Manhattan in the summer'. The small scenes about what soldiers do are for my money some of the best written, for example after taking over a small town in France the following passage takes place:
'LT Agate was at the teachers desk, sweeping away the papers onto the floor to make room for his helmet, carbine and bottle of brandy..'will the class come to order please?' Agate called out in a mincing, womanly voice, 'the first lesson today will be- oh lets see, spelling'. He leaned back against the cloudy blackboard, picked up a piece of chalk and threw it at Magills head. 'All right for you Billy Magill, stay after school'. And he broke up into spasms of giggling, drunken laughter.
Yup, it's dated, but definitely is a more human depiction of drafted infantrymen likely acted like. Meanwhile in the Great Depression sequences, characters come in and out of Bob Prentice's life. All father figures the mother desperately looks for end up being ultimately disappointing, abandoning them, cheating them etc.
Their salvation in the book comes from an air conditioned Hilton Hotel in Austin, Texas.
Give it a read if you want something very American, yet very dark. This book deserves more praise and was a commercial failure and out of print for decades. I have a first edition, which is what got me reading it.
February 25, 2020
A good read but not nearly as good as the first Yates I read, "Revolutionary roads". This one is just fine, it's captivating enough not to get bored with, the writer really captures people and their ambition and motivations, and disillusions to perfection but I didn't really connect with them.
It could have done with a better ending, something big and unexpected happening. It's just very mundane, sure there's the war but we already know how and when it will end and we are familiar with war stories anyway..
It's good but it lacks a spark for me.
It could have done with a better ending, something big and unexpected happening. It's just very mundane, sure there's the war but we already know how and when it will end and we are familiar with war stories anyway..
It's good but it lacks a spark for me.
October 13, 2018
No other writer captures the pain of loneliness and disillusionment quite like Richard Yates. It seems to me that he understands his characters’ self-delusions, portraying the cruelty of their false hopes and dashed dreams with real insight and humanity.
In this, his second novel, Yates explores the lives of a single mother, Alice Prentice, and her only son, Bobby, as they try to eke out some kind of existence for themselves in 1930-40s America.
To read the rest of my review, please click here:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2018...
In this, his second novel, Yates explores the lives of a single mother, Alice Prentice, and her only son, Bobby, as they try to eke out some kind of existence for themselves in 1930-40s America.
To read the rest of my review, please click here:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2018...
December 11, 2023
So good, and devastating. The dual structure between mother and son works wonders. The epilogue at the end hits the feels. My second favorite of his books, behind Revolutionary Road.
September 13, 2024
Devastating.
February 24, 2017
"Tutti sembravano felici tranne Prentice, che provava un fastidioso senso di insoddisfazione. La guerra era finita troppo presto."
Qui per l'intera, noiosa recensione: https://unastanzatuttapermeweb.wordpr...
Qui per l'intera, noiosa recensione: https://unastanzatuttapermeweb.wordpr...
October 7, 2024
i must admit i only realised i'd underestimated this book when i got to the last couple pages, and it's one i imagine will float around in my mind for quite some time. Yates has the uncanny ability to fill a novel with characters i despise behaving in ways i despise, but not in such a way that i feel the urge to take a break from reading out of second-hand embarrassment, or feel the urge to speed through the sections out of hatred, so i can land on a paragraph where they get what's coming to them - rather, i become wholly engrossed in the *realism* of it all, the intrinsic *humanity* flowing through his prose and tying it all together neatly.
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