Disturbing the Peace by Richard Yates

Disturbing The Peace
by Richard Yates
Pub. Date: September 1975
Genre: Fiction
288pp

Synopsis from BN.com:
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Why I Picked It:
I wanted to read Revolutionary Road, but for whatever reason, picked this one up instead thinking the story sounded interesting. He's an acclaimed writer, "America’s finest realistic novelist" so says the Boston Globe and I'd never read anything by him before. It is the story of John and Janice Wilder, living what appears to any outside observer, a most perfect life. A peaceful life with a wife who was "comfortable", "civilized", "reasonable"... "Hardly anything upset or frightened her..." I remember reading these lines on the first few pages of this book at the bookstore, and thinking this intro of a woman so bland and with such a flat affect about her life would turn out to be such an interesting story. Especially because on page two, her husband is calling her to say he's not coming come. Threw it in my pile to purchase, and away I went.

My Review:
This one took me a while to get through. Sure, it started off well enough, I wanted to know why John Wilder wasn't coming home. But then he is committed to Bellevue, and spends the entire book drinking too much in combination with taking anti-psychotics, having a run-on affair deciding to produce a movie based on his stint in Bellevue. He never redeems himself, his wife remains "comfortable", "civilized" and the book winds itself right back to essentially where it began. I don't like the feel or texture of his writing style. I agree it is a very realistic style, but I couldn't get into the rants and hallucinations of a crazy man. I didn't feel much compassion for him either. Not sure if I was supposed to. It's a book about mental illness and so I supposed I should just naturally feel more compassion. He is a tragic character. But I wanted more from it, so I'm just going to write this one off. I didn't care for it.