Disturbing the Peace (Vintage Classics)
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Book Description
'One of the greatest American novelists of the twentieth century' Sunday Telegraph
Product Description
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. His family no longer interests him, his infidelities are leading him nowhere and he has begun to drink too much. Then one night, something inside John snaps and he calls his wife to tell her that he isn't coming home.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It was with a strange and sad feeling that I realised, while reading Disturbing the Peace (first published in 1975), that this was the last time I would read a work of fiction by Richard Yates anew. Methuen have now reissued all his novels in the UK, and the cupboard is bare. And this novel, his third, has a weak reputation, and was the runt of Methuen's litter. Was it worth it?
The answer is yes. Some of it contains Yates's most vivid and immersive writing, not least the 40-page second chapter where the protagonist, John Wilder, spends a long (long) weekend in a psychiatric unit, the Bellevue, after being signed in by his best friend. "With friends like that..." you might think, but where we join the book it is clear that Wilder has for a long time been skirting the lip of a full nervous breakdown, largely fuelled by alcohol dependency. We can only presume that the Bellevue scene, like the utterly destructive alcoholism Wilder suffers, comes from Yates's own experience, in which case it's all the more remarkable that he even left us with this many complete works.
Disturbing the Peace also has a pithiness in much of the dialogue and narrative that some of his later work seems to lack, and lovely careful use of specific words, like the "probably" in the scene where Wilder renounces his lover and returns to his wife, and a paragraph of renewed marital love and happiness ends with the thought:
"This was probably where he really belonged."
However. Just as the book is racing along at a tremendous lick - miserable alco-ad-man, desperate housewife, inscrutably sad kid, all the fun of the fair - there is a switch halfway through which seems to fall somewhere between hazardous and disastrous. It's a reflexive and self-referential bit of narrative sleight of hand which seems quite out of keeping with Yates's usual pinpoint realism, almost postmodern by his standards, and threatens to derail the whole thing. And the sudden changes which follow this (I kept skipping back going, How did we get here again?) suggest reams of unproductive prose hacked out by an editor - or Yates the morning after.
Gradually, though, this bizarre bit of fancy is assimilated into the story and begins to make more sense as the story goes on. In Yates's biography, Blake Bailey suggests that the book is intended in part as a satire on modern values of sanity and insanity, but it's hard to detect this among the usual - and brilliant - Yates miserablism. The ending is more satisfying than (and as bleak as) many of this others, giving a circular sense of completeness to the story.
It seems to me that much of Yates's best work came toward the end of his life - Cold Spring Harbor, Young Hearts Crying - which makes his early (ish: 66) death a greater loss yet. He had also begun producing books more swiftly as the years went on - fifteen years for his first three, ten years for the next four. His loss to literature is immeasurable, but seven kinds of loneliness are better than none.
The answer is yes. Some of it contains Yates's most vivid and immersive writing, not least the 40-page second chapter where the protagonist, John Wilder, spends a long (long) weekend in a psychiatric unit, the Bellevue, after being signed in by his best friend. "With friends like that..." you might think, but where we join the book it is clear that Wilder has for a long time been skirting the lip of a full nervous breakdown, largely fuelled by alcohol dependency. We can only presume that the Bellevue scene, like the utterly destructive alcoholism Wilder suffers, comes from Yates's own experience, in which case it's all the more remarkable that he even left us with this many complete works.
Disturbing the Peace also has a pithiness in much of the dialogue and narrative that some of his later work seems to lack, and lovely careful use of specific words, like the "probably" in the scene where Wilder renounces his lover and returns to his wife, and a paragraph of renewed marital love and happiness ends with the thought:
"This was probably where he really belonged."
However. Just as the book is racing along at a tremendous lick - miserable alco-ad-man, desperate housewife, inscrutably sad kid, all the fun of the fair - there is a switch halfway through which seems to fall somewhere between hazardous and disastrous. It's a reflexive and self-referential bit of narrative sleight of hand which seems quite out of keeping with Yates's usual pinpoint realism, almost postmodern by his standards, and threatens to derail the whole thing. And the sudden changes which follow this (I kept skipping back going, How did we get here again?) suggest reams of unproductive prose hacked out by an editor - or Yates the morning after.
Gradually, though, this bizarre bit of fancy is assimilated into the story and begins to make more sense as the story goes on. In Yates's biography, Blake Bailey suggests that the book is intended in part as a satire on modern values of sanity and insanity, but it's hard to detect this among the usual - and brilliant - Yates miserablism. The ending is more satisfying than (and as bleak as) many of this others, giving a circular sense of completeness to the story.
It seems to me that much of Yates's best work came toward the end of his life - Cold Spring Harbor, Young Hearts Crying - which makes his early (ish: 66) death a greater loss yet. He had also begun producing books more swiftly as the years went on - fifteen years for his first three, ten years for the next four. His loss to literature is immeasurable, but seven kinds of loneliness are better than none.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
American writer Richard Yates has undergone something of a renaissance of late, largely thanks to the recent film adaptation of his best novel 'Revolutionary Road'. These days, he's mentioned in the same breath as Updike and Cheever as a chronicler of suburban misadventures and the faded side of the American Dream. 'Disturbing the Peace', his third novel, has long been considered his weakest book -it's not, but its negative reception undoubtedly stems from the tough and gritty subject matter; an ad salesman with a drink problem has a breakdown and is checked into a psychiatric ward. Upon his release, he tries to carry on as normal with his wife, their young child and his job, but his alcoholism along with what he perceives as his failings and disappointments in life, conspire to bring on greater problems.
Yates' writing style is concise and unfussy, and he's easy to read, with a special talent for those uncomfortable human moments that occur between people, and some jet black humour, but it's still a dark and gruelling account of one man's descent into personal despair. For those who have read about Yates' life, there are also some uncomfortably raw autobiographical elements, which perhaps explain why he felt compelled to write it.
If you're reading Yates for the first time, I'd recommend 'Revolutionary Road' or the story collections ('Eleven Kinds of Loneliness', 'Liars in Love') as a primer before tackling his more 'difficult' work.
Yates' writing style is concise and unfussy, and he's easy to read, with a special talent for those uncomfortable human moments that occur between people, and some jet black humour, but it's still a dark and gruelling account of one man's descent into personal despair. For those who have read about Yates' life, there are also some uncomfortably raw autobiographical elements, which perhaps explain why he felt compelled to write it.
If you're reading Yates for the first time, I'd recommend 'Revolutionary Road' or the story collections ('Eleven Kinds of Loneliness', 'Liars in Love') as a primer before tackling his more 'difficult' work.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I 'discovered' Yates about three months ago. That I'm now on my eighth novel of his already - 'A Good School' - indicates how deeply I've been bitten by the Yates bug. His writing style, for me anyway, is perfection - and he makes it seem so effortless. But you can make up your own mind on that one.
'Disturbing the Peace' chronicles the life of John Wilder - his fragile mental health, his alcoholism and his nervous breakdown. Given what we know about Yates's own life its hard not to infer a great deal of auto-biobiography here (although I know you're not supposed to!)
We see Wilder breaking free from a stultifying marriage and pointless job in advertising to pursue his dreams as a film producer with the woman he loves. The pathos comes from him getting so close but never quite getting there. ( Watch out for a parallel character to Wilder - a writer whose ideas do get transferred to the big screen, suitably named Chester Pratt.)
I won't reveal anymore - I don't want to spoil the plot for you anymore than I already have done. I would like to say, though, that if you've had or have any sort of mental health problem you will probably be able to relate to and sympathise with Wilder. I know I could.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Impressive...
I really like Richard Yates, and this book evidences why. It is the story of a bored ad-man in New York, and his gradual descent into a nervous breakdown. Read more
Published 9 months ago by bloodsimple
My peace was definitely disturbed
John Wilder sells advertising space and has a comfortable but boring life in Manhattan. He's disappointed - with his family, his job, his life, himself. Read more
Published 14 months ago by D. Moore
Harrowing and wonderful
This is a brilliant book. If you're a fan of Mad Men - Complete Season 1 [DVD] [2007] and the sordid underbelly beneath that era's bright-eyed exterior, then you're in for a real... Read more
Published 22 months ago by BiLL J
my introduction to richard yates
i saw revolutionary road at the cinema, and to be honest before this i had never heard of mr yates or been familiar with his work. Read more
Published on 1 Dec 2009 by Mr. M. Bounds
Disturbing the Peace
A book ahead of it's time in it's depiction of the insanity which comes from alcoholism
Published on 2 Aug 2009 by ..
Devastating and gripping
My First Yates and the beginnings of a beautiful journey of discovery. Gritty and at times stark. Wilder the Anti hero a man amongst all of us spirals deeper and deeper into the... Read more
Published on 29 Nov 2008 by K. R. Connolly
Caught at the rye
A coruscating novel of one man's descent into a alcoholic and mental hell. It reads like an autobiog and echoes many of the themes in Ford's other great novels: alcoholism,... Read more
Published on 4 April 2007 by K. P. Quinn
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