Books by Richard Yates

Hailed as a masterpiece from its first publication, Revolutionary Road is the story of Frank and April Wheeler, a bright young couple who are bored by the banalities of suburban life and long to be extraordinary.

John Wilder is in his mid-thirties, a successful salesman with a place in the country, an adoring wife and a ten-year-old son.But something is wrong. Then one night, something inside John snaps and he calls his wife to tell her that he isn't coming home...

Whether addressing the smothered desire of suburban housewives, the white-collar despair of Manhattan office workers or the heartbreak of a single mother with artistic pretensions, Yates ruthlessly examines the hopes and disappointments of ordinary people with empathy and humour.

Bobby is eighteen and lost on the battlefields of Europe, stumbling his way through World War II. Richard Yates's novel is both tender and ironic as he follows Bobby's adventures and disasters and reflects on the intense but complicated bond between mother and son.

William Grove is a nervous teenager trying to fit in at his new boarding school. Edith Stone is the daughter of the English master who falls in love with the most popular boy in school. And them comes Pearl Harbor and suddenly they are faced with larger issues than the day-to-day problems and politics of school life.

Evan Shepard is a young man with a chequered past when he first meets the Drakes, after his car breaks down outside their house. However, after their swift marriage, things don't work out quite as planned and the stresses of living with Rachel's family, in their shared house in Cold Spring Harbor, begin to take their toll on the new couple.

Whether it be in the depiction of the complications of divorced families, grown-up daughters, estranged sisters, office friendships or fleeting love affairs, the pieces in this collection showcase Richard Yates's extraordinary gift for observation and his understanding of human frailty.

All she knows is that everyone else seems, somehow, happier. In this magnificent novel, at once bitterly sad and achingly funny, Richard Yates again shows himself to be the supreme chronicler of the American Dream and its casualties.

Out of the lives of Manhattan office workers, a cab driver seeking immortality, frustrated would-be novelists, suburban men and their yearning, neglected women, Richard Yates creates a haunting mosaic of the 1950s, the era when the American dream was finally coming true - and just beginning to ring a little hollow.

When the Shepards' car breaks down in pre-War New York City, a chain of events is set in motion that will transform the lives of the beautiful but stupid Evan Shepard, his doomed lover Rachel, and both their families.

"Meget få romaner er så frygtløse. Eller så trøstesløse. Eller så brutale. Eller så morsomme. Eller så hjerteskærende." - Sam MendesÅret er 1955. Frank og April Wheeler bor i et nydeligt lille hus for enden af Revolutionary Road i et helt nyt forstadskvarter i Connecticut. Frank pendler til New York og sit kontorjob hver dag.April går hjemme hos børnene. De føler sig begge hævet over forstadslivets forudsigelighed og drømmer sig tilbage til bohemetiden i Greenwich Village, hvor de forelskede sig i hinanden, og April kaldte Frank den mest interessante person, hun nogensinde havde mødt.April har altid forestillet sig en fremtid, hvor hun var omgivet af lysende smukke og interessante mennesker, og Frank har ladet hende tro, at hun kunne opnå det gennem ham. Da hun foreslår, at de skal bryde op og flytte til Paris, så Frank endelig kan frigøre sin fangedekunstnersjæl, mens hun forsørger familien, tager uafvendelige begivenheder fart.Richard Yates beskriver med en hjerteskærende indsigt og klarhed, hvordan gode mennesker som Frank og April Wheeler svigter ikke bare hinanden, men også det bedste i sig selv.Copyright © Richard Yates, 1961, 1989Oversat af Joachim Wrang fra Revolutionary RoadOmslagslayout Joyce GrosswilerLydbogen er indlæst af Bent Otto Hansenforstadsliv, udvikling, parforhold, frigørelse, selvudvikling, afmagt, USA, 1950-1959