Bugiardi e innamorati

by Richard Yates, Andreina Lombardi Bom (Translator), Giorgio Vasta (Contributor)

La giovane moglie di un professore universitario, due bambini figli di madri divorziate, un'impulsiva prostituta londinese, un soldato in licenza a Parigi, una scultrice che sogna fame e gloria, un impiegato che aspira a una vita libera, uno scrittore in trasferta a Hollywood: da questi personaggi così vari, eppure uniti da uno stesso desiderio di qualcosa di nuovo che cambi le loro vite, il genio narrativo di Richard Yates tira fuori sette racconti - qui pubblicati per la prima volta in italiano - che descrivono magistralmente quel groviglio di sentimenti contraddittori, talvolta inconsapevoli e spesso incomprensibili che costituiscono un amore. E il lettore non può fare a meno di sentirsi trascinato, coinvolto, messo a nudo e infine assolto dalla propria umanità, così come vengono assolti, prima dell'ultima riga, i protagonisti di questa magnifica carrellata di affetti e menzogne.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, The United States Of America, Literature, American, Americana

319 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Richard 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.

Reviews

[Violeta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Yates is in the same league as John Cheever and John Updike, marvelous writers all of them, exiled into literary ‘unfashionableness’ quite unfairly and inexplicably IMO. It could be because their gaze is very much the male gaze of the 50s, 60s and 70s and not so relevant to our gender-fluid times. But did irrelevance ever keep readers away from authors of yesteryears? Perhaps those three aren’t yet enough-distanced from the past so as to be classified in the classics’ department and thus be paid their due respect.

From what I read, Yates has the additional drawback of not having been wildly popular even while he lived, although he had earned enough critical acclaim to be compared to James Joyce because of the topical and autobiographical elements of his work. His (mostly male) protagonists live in or around New York and happen to have the age of their author at the time he created them. I wouldn’t know if their yearning for a different, more substantial life, intellectually and emotionally fulfilling, was also his; I’m guessing it was and that’s why this yearning is the recurring theme of his stories and his most famous novel Revolutionary Road.

His characters are disillusioned men and women looking for an idea of life to sustain them, meanwhile living very real, albeit mundane ones. They’re not very comfortable in their own skin, always trying to project a finer image, a better version of themselves if only for their own use; what wouldn’t they have given to live in our Instagrammed era… In the end they are simply hungry for love and recognition, and the lies they tell themselves and to each other are only flimsy fronts intended more for self protection than deceit. Does that sound old-fashioned or just classic?

Yates met with success posthumously when ‘Revolutionary Road’ was turned into film in 2008, starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. Same as most everyone else, I discovered the book because of the film. ‘Liars in Love’ is his second short-story collection and in it I found the thematic elements and perceptive character-sketching of the novel aptly adjusted to the structure of the short form. I said that his is a male gaze but it’s penetrating and compassionate enough to create equally vivid female characters, not in the least lacking in depth from their male counterparts.

I enjoyed most of the stories and I’m looking forward to reading his other collection, if only for the gorgeous title: Eleven Kinds of Loneliness.
I do hope that the laws of the literary market will restore the ‘fashionability’ of this man’s prose (Cheever’s and Updike’s, too) some time soon.

[Steven Godin · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a fan of the short-story, one thing I find absolutely paramount is the importance of character's being set up and closely observed in as little time as possible, sometimes it's difficult to be totally engaged in a brief story if the people within don't grasp your attention from the off. As American writers go, both John Cheever and Raymond Carver wrote the short-story to almost perfection, so to did Richard Yates. The thing with Yates though, was his skill at writing realism, to about as real as real is going to get, concerning the ordinary, and everyday lives of mid-20th century Americans. Sometimes painful, ugly and bleak, other times, tender and loving, but still with an air of anxiety. The seven stories featured in 'Liars in Love' I would say, are not only some of his best stories, they are also some of his most optimistic. Having said that, there are failed marriages, dysfunctional households and the subject matter may appear grim at times, but it's more along the lines of dark humour, that wanting to slit your wrists. The seven intimate stories take place in either New York, London or Los Angeles, but all still share the same bed though, with some tucked-up beautiful writing.

The first story - 'Oh Joseph, I'am so tired' is probably the most autobiographical, and based on Yates's own troubled childhood, which is seen from the perspective of two children growing up in a Greenwich Village apartment block with their divorced mother who likes a drink and is working on a model of President-elect Roosevelt's head. The children get visits from their father and have home tutorials with someone called Bart, until the mother flips out after harsh words were supposedly said about her. Young Susan Andrews comes next in 'A Natural Girl', who ends up falling in love with a Lecturer whilst living on campus at a liberal Art's college in Wisconsin, to the displeasure of her father, who she despises anyway. Things go according to plan, until they don't.
Followed by 'Trying out for the Race' which sees two mothers, Lucy and Elizabeth, both with kids, share a house near a highway outside of New York, everyone gets on fine to begin with, before the cracks start to appear. The next two stories take place in London 'Liars in Love' features an American who falls for a Scottish prostitute (my favourite), the other 'A Compassionate Leave' sees a young soldier in WW2 return to his mother in England, but not before touring around Paris trying to get his leg over first. 'Regards at Home' sees two male office workers become sort of friends, before one heads off abroad. Lastly finishing off in Hollywood with 'Saying Goodbye to Sally'. Jack Fields, a failed writer who is away from his wife in LA, falls for the wrong woman, before ending up in a drunken stupor.

Rest assured, this is Yates writing with old painful memories still at heart, he probably sat there with dry tears and a bottle of whisky close at hand whilst writing these, but you wouldn't think so.
The style and descriptive details are so confident and assured, the narratives were crisp, clear and easy to read, whilst each of the main characters were so brilliantly brought to life. As for the use of dialogue, wow. This was simply first-rate storytelling by one of the finest American writers of the 20th century.

[Jean-Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Yates writes has written a few of these stories as he didn't quite know who or what he wanted them to be about. He started somewhere, with one character, and then quickly changed his mind, jumping from that character to the next. Or so it appears, anyway. Perhaps he treated each story as a mini novel, which sometimes works out and sometimes does not. The stories set in London--one of which includes a streetwalker straight out of a Beryl Bainbridge novel--Paris, and California are my favorite, and the rest are fairly standard fare Yates (or so I suspect, having yet to read Eleven Kinds of Loneliness).

Oh, Joseph, I'm So Tired - 4
A Natural Girl - 3
Trying Out for the Race - 3
Liars in Love - 5
A Compassionate Leave - 5
Regards at Home - 5
Saying Goodbye to Sally - 4

[PMP · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took a second Yates book for me to realise: this man writes about the impossibility of two things: unconditional love and acceptable real estate.

[Lewis Woolston · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third book by Richard Yates that i have read and i am officially converted. The man was a genius.
This is a collection of stories that detail life in America during the Post-War era of the 40's, 50's and early 60's. That is not to say everything is white picket fences and "Leave it to Beaver" lifestyles. In fact nearly everyone in these stories is affected by alcohol, frustrated ambition, broken families and loneliness. Yates has a very cold, miserablist vision: America may have been booming in those years but economic and military power doesn't fill the holes in people's souls.
Of the stories in this collection my favourites would be the title story and "Regards at Home" but all of them are quality.
I will be reading more Yates soon.

[piperitapitta · Rating 4 out of 5]

E tutti vissero.

E basta, perché il felice e contenti Yates lo lascia agli altri.
I protagonisti di questi sette racconti la felicità l'hanno inseguita, l'hanno perduta, la stanno forse ancora cercando, oppure si sono rassegnati a non incontrarla mai ma non vogliono ammetterlo.
Ed è per questo che Helen (scultrice e mamma divorziata), Susan (studentessa e figlia anaffettiva), Elizabeth (mamma di due bambini che decide di condividere casa con un'amica), Warren (marito abbandonato all'estero dalla moglie), Paul (giovanissimo soldato in Europa), Bill (copywriter e amico di Dan) e Jack (scrittore newyorkese che cerca il successo a Los Angeles), vivono vite ordinarie infarcite di bugie che raccontano ai figli, ai genitori, agli amici, agli amanti, ma soprattutto a se stessi.
Yates è maestro in questo scavare nell'insicurezza di ciascuno di loro, nel portare a galla, quasi con crudele insistenza, l'insoddisfazione più profonda e, allo stesso tempo, di tratteggiare un'epoca, quella del sogno americano - quella in cui il presidente John Kennedy per il solo fatto di essere il Primo tra gli americani, bello e felice, autorizzava tutti a sognare ad essere convinti di potercela fare - con la scelta di poche parole, con la descrizione delle loro villette in serie, degli open space in cui lavorano, dei college in cui studiano.
Sette storie amare, anzi in realtà solo sei perché Saluti a casa - che secondo me è la più bella - lascia intravedere uno spiraglio di cielo, una speranza di futuro capace di illuminare le vite di Bill e sua moglie, che sono frammenti di esistenza, istantanee di vita, storie in cui anche l'amore è bugiardo ma almeno, sia pur per pochi istanti, consente a tutti ancora di sognare.
O forse solo di fingere di sognare?

[Juan Nalerio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mentirosos enamorados se compone de siete relatos largos donde el centro está en las relaciones humanas, en el amor y la soledad específicamente.

Las decisiones que toman los personajes son erróneas y solo les queda seguir adelante y vivir con eso en unos casos para bien y en otros para mal.

Perdedores, enfermos, madres e hijos, todos humanos, van desfilando en estas pequeñas nouvelles. Gran lectura, adictiva. Vale la pena.

La traducción de la editorial Fiordo permite una lectura fluida sin españolismos. Gracias.

[Clara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like climbing up to a rooftop and shouting into a very loud microphone: “READ RICHARD YATES!” I would of course get stared at and cursed at and my appeal would probably have the precisely opposite effect on anyone who heard it. So alas, I am left to try and muddle through my mind and work out just why it is that I think this brilliant author is quite so brilliant.

It struck me with “Liars in Love” that reading him is something akin to therapy, not because he makes you laugh (he doesn't, although please tell me if you find otherwise!), but because you feel he understands people, and therefore understands you. And as a female, reading an author whose protagonists are predominantly male, this is surprising. Though the women in these stories may occupy less page time than the men, their emotions and desires, and the intricacies of their behaviors are captured with no less sensitivity and nuance.

The criticism of some, that Yates just revisits the same material over and over again, is not an unfair one. Diversity of theme is a claim that could never be made of him, and these seven stories are filled with all the loneliness, misunderstanding, and relationships once full of promise that ultimately go nowhere, that one would expect. Yet more than his previous collection, so too does "Liars in Love" reflect a preoccupation with childhood, and one can't help but feel that Yates is reaching back into his own past to look at the ways in which the adults around him made an impact.

One such story is "Trying Out for the Race", a depression-era tale in which two divorced mothers and their children move in together as a way to pool their resources. Full of tender observations of the forced coming together of strangers under one roof, and the relationships - so different from each other - between the children and their mothers, this is a favorite for me. The titular story too, which visits the more recognisable Yatesian themes of marriage gone awry and blind, hurried love, also stands out.

But in all of them, each character - from the main to the very minor - is wraught so finely and with such seeming ease, that despite the common thread running like a pulse through them all, the stories are distinct from each other and grip the reader in their own individual way.

[Frannie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un’altra carrellata di donne e uomini tristi.

E ci inabissiamo di nuovo nelle profondità dei legami umani, profondità che ahimè, non lasciano scampo.
Nell’universo yatesiano che qui si declina in 7 racconti, le relazioni, amorose ma anche familiari, sono destinate a disintegrarsi, la rovina è insita nella loro natura e perciò inevitabile. I suoi sono personaggi inetti e inattivi, spesso fabbricanti dei propri abbagli e i genitori se la cavano un po’ peggio dei figli: vacillano (per l’alcol o per la loro inadeguatezza alla vita) e smaniano in cerca di affetto e supporto, mentre i più giovani non possono fare a meno di essere spettatori della loro tragedia o prendervi parte a loro volta.

Da questi racconti emerge anche un’altra amara verità: i momenti felici sono rari e poco duraturi, in futuro ci sarà impossibile replicarli e saremo destinati a viverne solo delle copie sbiadite e nettamente inferiori.
Ma gli uomini e le donne yatesiani sono anche dei gran bugiardi, spesso loro malgrado. È che ormai sono così assuefatti alle maschere e alle pose della finzione che non si rendono conto di star solo recitando. E allora continuano, si illudono di potersi nobilitare al di sopra dello squallore quotidiano attraverso un nuovo lavoro, un nuovo amore, una nuova casa. Proprio come i coniugi Wheeler del primo, grande capolavoro, Revolutionary Road.
Ma, purtroppo, “se la tua vita è pronta per andare in pezzi, andrà in pezzi dovunque” e allora non c’è davvero fine alla miseria? Forse solo rarissimi sprazzi di tenerezza e compassione illuminano, anche se per un attimo, queste storie così cupe e malinconiche.
No, Yates non è uno scrittore che si lascia amare da tutti e ad ogni incontro c’è la reale possibilità di venire investiti da un oceano di sconforto e solitudine.

Nessun lieto fine, ma un grande acume e una straordinaria sensibilità. E alla fine dei conti, anche gli sconfitti hanno una loro dignità

4 stelle e mezzo.

[Lostaccount · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as Yates' other collection, Eleven Kinds of Loneliness, but still great reading. The stories in this collection are all about relationships that fizzle out and die. I love this guy's writing style and his characters are always interesting.

[lise.charmel · Rating 4 out of 5]

E' una raccolta di racconti piuttosto uniforme questa, in cui i personaggi sembrano somigliarsi tutti ed essere tutti alter-ego dello scrittore (la madre scultrice, i genitori separati, l'esperienza di guerra, Parigi, la sorella), ma soprattutto sono e si sentono inadeguati di fronte al resto del mondo.
Si tratta fondamentalmente di persone qualunque, che però desiderano disperatamente essere qualcuno, essere diversi, elevarsi in qualche modo dalla massa, pur sentendosi allo stesso tempo inferiori e superiori. E sono anche sempre, quasi inconsapevolmente, in fuga: da una madre invadente, da una coinquilina sempliciotta, da una condizione sgradita. Di fronte a loro si aprono spiragli di miglioramento, più o meno ingannatori, che non sempre sapranno cogliere. Ma metteranno sempre un briciolo di amore nelle bugie che raccontano agli altri o a se stessi.

[Kera · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, Richard Yates eloquently reminds us just how miserable relationships can make us.

[G. Munckel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yates es un maestro de lo subterráneo y lo no dicho. Sus historias son sencillas en apariencia; pero por debajo de su trama sutil, por debajo de sus diálogos, se abren grietas que revelan la fragilidad del mundo y de sus personajes, que parecen destinados al fracaso y la soledad.

En el cuento que le da nombre al libro, cuando el protagonista se queda solo, encuentra una cajita musical que su hija dejó al irse y juega a girar la manivela al revés, entonces descubre que no puede parar “porque aquella pequeña melodía tosca y sombría parecía contener todas las pérdidas y toda la soledad del mundo”. Y sus cuentos suelen ser así: una situación común y corriente que, bajo cierta luz, revela una tristeza pequeña y secreta.


Mis favoritos: “Mentirosos enamorados” y “Licencia por motivos familiares”.

[Neelakshi Chakraborty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every short story is a jewel - finely-chiseled and precious, its luster almost vulnerable. Richard Yeats at his best, his crisp style offset by a soothing delineation of passion, sadness, melancholy and tenderness. The warped and twisted frailties of human beings emerge at every point but there is no over-riding sentiment here.
The economic style Yeats uses is indicative of one of contemporary fiction's strongest talents.He is a humanist at heart, who can write about failed marriages, disastrous relationships, failures at society's margins and artifice without bitterness. You can almost hear him mocking gently at the grand delusions people harbour, only to be reminded again and again of how de-centered we all actually are.
His best moments come in unassuming prose and as champagne moments - smooth and sparkling and gentle - perhaps marginal to the entire lot, yet wrought with lyrical sadness.Sample this.
two little girls run after their father who is divorced from their mother and whom they meet only once a week.
"He stopped and turned round and that was when we saw he was crying. He tried to hide it but there was no disguising the awful bloat and pucker of a face in tears. it would be good to say we stayed and talked to him and hugged him but we were too embarrassed for that. We took the stamps and ran home without looking back."

This is quintessential Yeats- normalizing and pitching two complex, almost contradictory sentiments in a few sentences. There is no overtly dramatic effect yet there is no effort to reign in the beautiful mess of unruly moments. All I can say is, i have become a fan of his. Absolutely brilliant story-teller.
The Easter Parade and now this- need to get his complete works soon.

[Justin Evans · Rating 2 out of 5]

Am I officially burned out on Yates? Perhaps. This couldn't get much more than a 'meh' out of me, mainly because the stories seem like re-runs of other stories/novels by Yates. Sculptress mother? Check. Cowardly soldier? Check. TB? Check. Middle class suburban life? Check. Alimony? Divorce? Creative writing? Soul crushing? Check by four. Also odd is how much these stories fly in the face of all advice given to short story writers. Most of them are basically 20 page novels, rather than short stories. I dislike writing-school short stories, and, since Yates is meant to be the greatest short story writer of his age, this book should really say something about that whole racket.
All of that said, the title story was great, as was Trying out for the Race. Saying Goodbye to Sally has its moments. And Yates' narrative voice - he only has one - is all time great. But overall, I think I would've been better off re-reading 11 Kinds... or one of the novels.

[Ruby · Rating 4 out of 5]

[2012]The number of themes Yates uses is rather limited, but he knows what he's doing with them. The people in his stories are always such messes, and there's never any hope, and the love is never happy, and nobody is ever satisfied. And although the stories tend to blend together a bit after a while, it's all rather brilliant. Saying Goodbye to Sally and Liars in Love were my favourites, I think.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love me some Richard Yates

[Amina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wont be able to review each individual short story, but I will say that Yates has this seamless ability to create a great background, plot, and flawed enough characters to keep the story interesting.

I was first introduced to Revolutionary Road, and though as a teenager the topic was above my head, the writing was wonderful. Yates is a wonderful writer, which of course is paramount.

I don't know the history of Yates' life, but I assume it is as flawed as his characters.

He loves real estate agents and couples battling through divorce. Basically, its relationships in turmoil.

Many may not find his topics to be worthwhile, but if you are looking for well crafted stories with excellent writing, this book is for you.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had to re-read many of the passages in “Regards at Home” (which is, to me, a perfect short story) just because some of his sentences feel too good and too special to simply read once and forget.

[Dolceluna ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bugiardi e innamorati, o meglio più bugiardi che innamorati, sono i protagonisti dei sette racconti contenuti in questa raccolta (finalmente tradotta e pubblicata!) di Richard Yates: dei tipici "antieroi" yatesiani che cercano di restare a galla nel mare della vita ma finiranno per morirne affogati, disillusi, ingenui o meschini, disadattati. Cercano, dispensano e fingono amore, un amore che tuttavia non si rivelerà che un semplice appannaggio privo di appagamento. E, com'è tipico dell'universo di Yates, tutto si risolverà nel vuoto del fallimento.
Amaro e, purtroppo, spesso vero.

[Ainsley Jeffery · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourites of the year and my 52cd!! 8 short stories that were all captivating. A crafted look into different forms of relationships between siblings, lovers, friends, etc in each. Great find in a Dublin used bookstore read mostly on portobello beach

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first half of stories I liked less than the second half. But I think the title story and the whole second half is some of my favorite writing.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great, not terrible. Pretty much the definition of a 2 star book. Nice cover, though.

[Abraham Timler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published near the end of Richard Yates’ steady output of postwar fiction, the seven stories of Liars In Love triumph in the effortless maturity of his lifetime of literary craft. Each short story is perfectly constructed and etched with a clarity that lays bare its character’s all-too-ordinary discontents of adulthood – searching for something to live by, yet inevitably succumbing to disillusion. The collection itself marks an understated high point of American Short Fiction.

Throughout Liars In Love, Yates’ sentences are masterful balancing acts of showing and telling – from the story Trying Out For The Race: “…moving uncertainly back toward her scattered work table, then turning and taking off her glasses, she couldn’t hide a shy, pleased look that transformed her suddenly into a girl.” Yates’ characters are depicted with such carefully observed detail and behavior (showing) that his direct pronouncements (telling) come across as both earned and natural – her “shy, pleased look that transformed her suddenly into a girl.”

This interplay of showing while telling gives Yates’ writing an uncommon clarity that pierces the unrippled surface of the narrative and reaches clear to the lakebed of his characters, often with unflinching verdict – from the story A Compassionate Leave: “And he had learned beyond question now that he could no longer attribute his trouble to shyness of awkwardness; it was fear. It was worse than fear: it was cowardice.”

As for the seven stories themselves, there’s also the clarity of Yates’ honest treatment of disappointment, be it late-life regret, midlife unease, or the nascent bewilderment of its many child characters – from the story Oh, Joseph, I’m So Tired: “She was forty-one, an age when even romantics must admit that youth is gone, and she had nothing to show for the years but a studio crowded with green plaster statues that nobody would buy. She believed in the aristocracy, but there was no reason to suppose the aristocracy would ever believe in her.”

Across the story collection, marriages that aren’t already dissatisfied are over – all before divorce was a late-century normality. The ex-wives of Liars In Love live off alimony and their ex-husbands (or separated) act on sights long set on a future far away, either out west or to Europe. And stories of those already gone West or pursuing fanciful ideals across the Atlantic are followed by the same discontent driving them there. Except for one story set during the Great Depression the rest take place throughout the postwar years. Yates’ characters finding little satisfaction through Postwar America’s economic boom, relative family stability, and rising homeownership only deepens the futility of their unfulfillment.

[Mitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Yates is bleak in a way that hits uncomfortably close to home. Biographies on the author seem to say he lived through alot of what he wrote, which just makes reading him hit that much harder.

++A Natural Girl
++Liars In Love
-Not quite as memorable as Eleven Kinds of Loneliness but more ambitious.

“But there was only one Susan. She was the middle child, born soon after he’d come back from the war, and he would always associate her birth with the first high hopes of world peace. Framed photographs on the walls at home showed her reverently kneeling as a six-year-old Christmas angel, with gauze-and-wire wings, or seated with far more decorum than anyone else at a birthday party table. And he couldn’t even flip through the family snapshot albums without having his heart stopped, every time, by those big, sorrowful eyes. I know who I am, she seemed to be saying in each picture; do you know who you are?

“I don’t like Alice in Wonderland,” she had told him once when she was eight.

“You don’t? Why?”

“Because it’s like a fever dream.”

And he had never again been able to read a page of either of those books, or to look at the famous Tenniel illustrations, without seeing what she meant and agreeing with her.”

[Franziska Nyffenegger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weil er bei Thomas Bernhard erwähnt wird und weil ich Kurzgeschichten meist mag, war dieses Buch ein paar Abende mein Begleiter. Mir kamen die Geschichten sehr amerikanisch vor und das sind sie wohl auch. Besser lesen sie sich vermutlich im Original. Die Übersetzung ist nicht besonders oder gar ausgesprochen schlecht, sondern soweit ganz gut, aber das, wofür Yates gelobt wird – die Sprödheit seiner Sprache, die Direktheit und Unmittelbarkeit –, habe ich dennoch nur ansatzweise gefunden. Auch die Geschichten sind weder schlecht noch langweilig. Drei Sterne und nicht mehr gibt es vor allem dafür, dass sie mich nicht sonderlich interessiert haben: Männer mit schwierigen Müttern, Männer, die sich von ihren Frauen trennen, Männer, die mit dem Alltag hadern, Männer mit Problemen.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much preferred this to Yates's first collection personally - the stories felt that little bit more substantial, and I got to know the characters in each a lot more along the way. This deals with many of the same topics as Yates's other works, but I just love the deft way he manages them (and particularly the many awkward situations that arise along the way). Definitely would recommend this one if you're looking for a bit of a milder misery-fest.

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Technically this doesn‘t count as read because i did‘t finish it but i reaally tried and i got halfway through. It‘s just SO boring and i really don‘t want it laying there and staring at me because i don‘t have the willpower to finish it.
I‘m sure it‘s great literature but i just don‘t like the vibe of ‚America in the 50s, nothing happens, people don‘t have emotions or only weird ones i can‘t relate to‘
im SORRY

[Alice Melton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories examining relationships that are inevitably falling apart. Each standalone story was easy to read, but given they all had the same theme by the end the drinking and the loneliness felt repetitive (though maybe that was the point - the universal experience of adults whose lives are at a bit of a stand still). This wasn't a 'i can't put it down' kind of read, but it was nice every night to read one story and the following night read the next.

[Luca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vite intere in poche pagine. Una riflessione costante su relazioni di coppie, la vita in casa con (o senza) i figli e l'alcohol. Impeccabile "Addio a Sally", la prima pagina di "Oh Giuseppe,...", l'ambientazione di "Partecipare alla corsa"