DISTURBING THE PEACE

by Richard Yates ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1975

This is Yates' strongest novel since that fine first one, Revolutionary Road--an itinerary of what John Berryman called the ""irresistible descent"" from alcoholism to psychosis--or are they one and the same? Yates has several virtues--notably control, clean-cut dialogue and a sense of contemporary life which extends from the glistening surfaces of the media world to the amber allure of the bottle. This follows John Wilder, advertising salesman for a scientific magazine, from the time when he's first signed into the psycho ward (""Jerk-off City"") of a New York hospital to his final sanctuary in a California institution, ""looking like a middle aged man to whom nothing had ever happened."" In between there's his indifferent marriage to plaintive, well-meaning Janice and his neglect of their son; his visits to a Dr. Blomberg whose uncommunicative ""Mms"" offer no more than the indiscriminately prescribed psychotropic drugs of prominent Dr. Brink; his first occasional visits to A.A. units which later become the excuse for a longplaying affair with lovely Pamela who leaves him for a speechwriter in the Kennedy administration but comes back to further herself by spiriting him off to the coast to make a film called ""Bellevue."" This novel finds its purchase in direct, seemingly firsthand, experience without, admittedly, going much below the topsoil. Whether you've met him before won't matter--Yates' disturber of the peace has an obliterating immediacy and bitter vulnerability. You turn the next page as inevitably as you take that next drink which should have been your last.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1975

ISBN: 0385293321

Page Count: -

Publisher: Delacorte

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1975

Categories: FICTION