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Diary of a Yuppie
Driven by an insatiable hunger for power, Bob Service, a thirty-two-year-old New York lawyer whose morals are tempered by expediency, tramples his associates and cripples his marriage
246 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1986
11 people are currently reading
125 people want to read
About the author
Louis Auchincloss
203 books96 followersLouis Stanton Auchincloss was an American novelist, historian, and essayist.
Among Auchincloss's best-known books are the multi-generational sagas The House of Five Talents, Portrait in Brownstone, and East Side Story. Other well-known novels include The Rector of Justin, the tale of a renowned headmaster of a school like Groton trying to deal with changing times, and The Embezzler, a look at white-collar crime. Auchincloss is known for his closely observed portraits of old New York and New England society.
Among Auchincloss's best-known books are the multi-generational sagas The House of Five Talents, Portrait in Brownstone, and East Side Story. Other well-known novels include The Rector of Justin, the tale of a renowned headmaster of a school like Groton trying to deal with changing times, and The Embezzler, a look at white-collar crime. Auchincloss is known for his closely observed portraits of old New York and New England society.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 1, 2019
The Suicide Generation
Much better social commentary than literature, Auchincloss’s Diary of a Yuppie, marks an inflexion point in American culture, a very specific period when the idea of duty gave way without a fight to the necessity of ambition. The transition took place precisely when my generation of baby-boomers took control of the world. Once duty had been dumped, ambition has been biting itself in the backside on a recurrent schedule. As one of Auchincloss’s characters puts it, “You have to be born after WWII to be a real skunk.”
Auchincloss’s literary career was largely devoted to documenting how my generation took over from his and how we achieved a transformation which may just be suicidal. The only rule of the age of ambition is “break the rules, pay the penalty, and get back in the game.”
We were educated on someone else’s dime. We found employment easily and progressed just as easily in the corporate hierarchy. We shared with our hippie cohorts the overwhelming desire to escape from “infinite middle-classitude.”
We were the new meritocracy. Those without sufficient ambition, or ability, weren’t our concern. The world was changing; we were the ones destined to change it. We had a duty to ourselves, our families, our countries to succeed. Being the best meant doing what had to be done no matter how distasteful or personally corrupting.
Diary’s protagonist, Robert Service (the irony is clearly intentional), is an upper middle-class New York corporate lawyer. Auchincloss could write authoritatively about such men because he was one of them. But Service is also “representative of a generation” both as an example of the transition taking place and as a motive force in its execution.
Service is educated but banal. He can cite the classics but they have no meaning except as grease to social wheels. He is the embodiment of the social philosophy of Ayn Rand, the civil religion of the Prosperity Gospel, the spiritual narcissism of Erhard Seminar Training and the thinly veiled racism of late twentieth century Republicanism.
Forty years later it is possible to see where this Ambitious Everyman was headed: the North Korean missile crisis and the Appalachian opioid crisis; the racism of ISIS and the racism of Ferguson; treasonous Nixon becoming the treasonous Trump. We have systematically created a more horrible world than the one we inherited through our mindless ambition.
My grandson, an English Public School boy, was asked several years ago what he wanted to be when he grew up. Without hesitation he responded “Retired.” I felt elation at the implication that he has seen the real cause of our distress, that arrogant presumption of virtue which we call ambition. I interpret him as hoping for ethical survival as a possible alternative.
Much better social commentary than literature, Auchincloss’s Diary of a Yuppie, marks an inflexion point in American culture, a very specific period when the idea of duty gave way without a fight to the necessity of ambition. The transition took place precisely when my generation of baby-boomers took control of the world. Once duty had been dumped, ambition has been biting itself in the backside on a recurrent schedule. As one of Auchincloss’s characters puts it, “You have to be born after WWII to be a real skunk.”
Auchincloss’s literary career was largely devoted to documenting how my generation took over from his and how we achieved a transformation which may just be suicidal. The only rule of the age of ambition is “break the rules, pay the penalty, and get back in the game.”
We were educated on someone else’s dime. We found employment easily and progressed just as easily in the corporate hierarchy. We shared with our hippie cohorts the overwhelming desire to escape from “infinite middle-classitude.”
We were the new meritocracy. Those without sufficient ambition, or ability, weren’t our concern. The world was changing; we were the ones destined to change it. We had a duty to ourselves, our families, our countries to succeed. Being the best meant doing what had to be done no matter how distasteful or personally corrupting.
Diary’s protagonist, Robert Service (the irony is clearly intentional), is an upper middle-class New York corporate lawyer. Auchincloss could write authoritatively about such men because he was one of them. But Service is also “representative of a generation” both as an example of the transition taking place and as a motive force in its execution.
Service is educated but banal. He can cite the classics but they have no meaning except as grease to social wheels. He is the embodiment of the social philosophy of Ayn Rand, the civil religion of the Prosperity Gospel, the spiritual narcissism of Erhard Seminar Training and the thinly veiled racism of late twentieth century Republicanism.
Forty years later it is possible to see where this Ambitious Everyman was headed: the North Korean missile crisis and the Appalachian opioid crisis; the racism of ISIS and the racism of Ferguson; treasonous Nixon becoming the treasonous Trump. We have systematically created a more horrible world than the one we inherited through our mindless ambition.
My grandson, an English Public School boy, was asked several years ago what he wanted to be when he grew up. Without hesitation he responded “Retired.” I felt elation at the implication that he has seen the real cause of our distress, that arrogant presumption of virtue which we call ambition. I interpret him as hoping for ethical survival as a possible alternative.
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December 28, 2024Interesting but not all that good. Wanted to read Auchincloss bc of his inclusion in Metropolitan (Audrey Rouget is reading The Rector of Justin in the scene in Von Slonaker’s home) and this title got my attention. The first page is a diary entry in large part about the narrative voice in Henry James, so I felt compelled to buy / read the book. A somewhat interesting rumination on practical vs. aesthetic purpose of literature but there’s really not much more here than your average pulpy novel. So it goes…
December 28, 2014
"And just what is a journal? A novel with the narrator, 'I'? Henry James disapproved of these; he said that they limited the tale to what the narrator could observe. The greater drama, according to him, was to see the observer observing." Auchincloss clearly has literary wisdom- and a keen reader can learn a lot through his passive morals and casual story telling.
A favorite "passive moral" , quoted straight from the Ethelinda character, "In the great world, you must learn, there is no difference between work and play." I put these words height on the pedestool; 40 hours/week is a huge investment of time. You better play during work, and work during play. Bob Service clearly does neither of these things and suffers.
I did not, however, give five stars for two reasons. The first being that the dialogue seemed forced and unnatural. Not necessarily the vocabulary, but the sentence structure seemed awkward to me. The second reason is almost all the characters were specialized in writing and literature trades. An English teacher is acceptable- but his parents, wife, father-in-law, friends, co-workers, ect. all seemed to be poets and English majors. I wished that Auchincloss branched out of his comfort zone in regards to his character's occupations.
As arrogant as Bob Service was, he had some great one liners worth highlighting. I dog-eared page 44, where Bob is reflecting at a co-worker's dinner party, "We always start by talking shop at these parties, but after a few drinks we get on to personalities, and that is when I learn things. And why not learn things? What kind of sot would want to spend his whole life in a pit before a lighted stage and never go behind the scenes?"
After reading that line, I wanted to go behind the scenes of Louis Auchincloss' brain.
A favorite "passive moral" , quoted straight from the Ethelinda character, "In the great world, you must learn, there is no difference between work and play." I put these words height on the pedestool; 40 hours/week is a huge investment of time. You better play during work, and work during play. Bob Service clearly does neither of these things and suffers.
I did not, however, give five stars for two reasons. The first being that the dialogue seemed forced and unnatural. Not necessarily the vocabulary, but the sentence structure seemed awkward to me. The second reason is almost all the characters were specialized in writing and literature trades. An English teacher is acceptable- but his parents, wife, father-in-law, friends, co-workers, ect. all seemed to be poets and English majors. I wished that Auchincloss branched out of his comfort zone in regards to his character's occupations.
As arrogant as Bob Service was, he had some great one liners worth highlighting. I dog-eared page 44, where Bob is reflecting at a co-worker's dinner party, "We always start by talking shop at these parties, but after a few drinks we get on to personalities, and that is when I learn things. And why not learn things? What kind of sot would want to spend his whole life in a pit before a lighted stage and never go behind the scenes?"
After reading that line, I wanted to go behind the scenes of Louis Auchincloss' brain.
May 13, 2019
This one was more like a 3.5 for me.
Bob Service is an up and coming lawyer in late 70’s/early 80’s New York. Diary of a Yuppie reads as Bob’s journal during the pivotal moments in his career and his personal life as he comes to terms (or rather, expects those around him to come to terms) with his questionable morality in his pursuits of success. It’s a quick and enjoyable read, although at times can feel like it’s “trying too hard.”
Bob Service is an up and coming lawyer in late 70’s/early 80’s New York. Diary of a Yuppie reads as Bob’s journal during the pivotal moments in his career and his personal life as he comes to terms (or rather, expects those around him to come to terms) with his questionable morality in his pursuits of success. It’s a quick and enjoyable read, although at times can feel like it’s “trying too hard.”
September 9, 2021
Auchincloss has written many books about old money in New York City. Here he iexamines new money. A young attorney that keeps a journal of his ascent in the corporate world due to his intelligence and amorality. Along the way he risks his marriage, loses friends old and new, and ruthlessly pursues every advantage he can in his business and personal life. It is clear which type of money this author prefers.
November 18, 2014
No idea why anyone in the review pages for this book, is panning it. They don't give a single decent reason as to why, I notice. I found it fabulous; much prefer Auchincloss over Updike or Roth. He knows how to pace a story. Its the only thing I believe I've read from him but boy, it sure sticks with you.
March 1, 2017
I was really hoping for more juicy details about Cuisinarts and chrome furnishings — but it's actually a timeless morality tale about love and ambition, just one that happens to be set in the Greed is Good era.
January 4, 2009
A rare miss by this otherwise estimable author, a nasty shot at the rising capitalist class. Auchincloss' contempt for these parvenues ruins his outlook.
October 12, 2010
Interesting take of driven lawyer and effect on personal life. Hated the ending.
April 13, 2016
my copy LP 246 pages hardback.
December 23, 2021
A strong 4 stars - very readable, morally complex portrait of a smart, sensitive but incredibly self-justifying attorney who thinks that nearly everyone is as calculating as he is.
As for possible weaknesses, I do agree with something another reviewer here noted - some dialogue rings false because of an overly literary sentence structure. However, since I haven't read anything else by Auchincloss, I can't be sure if this is a fault of the author or a telling reflection of the narrator's personality and tastes.
As for possible weaknesses, I do agree with something another reviewer here noted - some dialogue rings false because of an overly literary sentence structure. However, since I haven't read anything else by Auchincloss, I can't be sure if this is a fault of the author or a telling reflection of the narrator's personality and tastes.
October 18, 2023
What is the value of striving if the people who benefit from it resent you for it? And why do you need to try to better your lot in the first place?
Extremely readable and a lot to chew on, though I don’t think Bob Service did anything wrong besides put to voice the social calculations you’re not supposed to talk about. The at times flowery dialogue was a bit off-putting, but I choose to interpret it as the narrator’s choice rather than the author’s.
Extremely readable and a lot to chew on, though I don’t think Bob Service did anything wrong besides put to voice the social calculations you’re not supposed to talk about. The at times flowery dialogue was a bit off-putting, but I choose to interpret it as the narrator’s choice rather than the author’s.
June 29, 2013
This book made me hate the fact that no matter how bad, I will always finish a book I start or movie I watch. This novel is absolutely horrible. It was as bad on page 1 as it was on page 215.
Want to read
June 22, 20101st edition, signed by author
April 19, 2018
So-so novel about a young lawyer coming to know himself and establishing his ethics and relationships with others. Readable but not riveting.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews