Bridgman reviewed The Easter Parade by Richard Yates
Review of 'The Easter Parade' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
The Seinfeld episode titled The Jacket featured a character based on the real life [a:Richard Yates|27069|Richard Yates|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1528115419p2/27069.jpg]. It was Elaine's father, Alton Benes, a writer. Larry David, a co-creator of Seinfeld had dated a daughter of Yates. The actor who portrayed him, Lawrence Tierney, was a legendary movie tough guy and the cast were so afraid of him that he was on the show just once. (It was supposed to be a recurring role.)
This is unsurprising to anyone who's read something by Yates. [b:The Easter Parade|10796884|The Easter Parade|Richard Yates|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1300221044l/10796884.SX50.jpg|1352933] is an absorbing, fast-paced (I read it in just a day) story about two sisters, Sarah and Emily, the younger one in particular, as they grow up from childhood to middle age. It begins in 1930 and ends in the early 1970s. The other major character is their mother, who has encouraged her daughters to call her Pookie. …
The Seinfeld episode titled The Jacket featured a character based on the real life [a:Richard Yates|27069|Richard Yates|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1528115419p2/27069.jpg]. It was Elaine's father, Alton Benes, a writer. Larry David, a co-creator of Seinfeld had dated a daughter of Yates. The actor who portrayed him, Lawrence Tierney, was a legendary movie tough guy and the cast were so afraid of him that he was on the show just once. (It was supposed to be a recurring role.)
This is unsurprising to anyone who's read something by Yates. [b:The Easter Parade|10796884|The Easter Parade|Richard Yates|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1300221044l/10796884.SX50.jpg|1352933] is an absorbing, fast-paced (I read it in just a day) story about two sisters, Sarah and Emily, the younger one in particular, as they grow up from childhood to middle age. It begins in 1930 and ends in the early 1970s. The other major character is their mother, who has encouraged her daughters to call her Pookie.
Not one person comes off looking good in Easter Parade. They're all mediocre strivers who fail to reach they're dreams. If they say something witty or insightful it's always, Yates tells us, rehearsed or badly executed.
It's a thoroughly depressing book, but one I recommend. Yates had cracked whatever mysterious code it is that makes writing readable.
Excerpt:
She served a lunch that was almost as inadequate as one of Pookie's meals; then the problem was that the conversation kept petering out. Sarah wanted to hear "everything" about Barnard, but when Emily began to talk she saw her sister's eyes glaze over in smiling boredom. Pookie said "Isn't this nice? Just the three of us together again?" But it wasn't really very nice at all, and for most of the afternoon they sat around the sparsely furnished living room in attitudes of forced conviviality, Pookie smoking many cigarettes and dropping ashes on the rug, three women with nothing much to say to one another.
