Short Story Wednesday: "The Best of Everything" Richard Yates

 (from the archives)

Richard Yates wrote two of my favorite novels, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD and THE EASTER PARADE, but he also wrote this fabulous collection of ten short stories (among others). Written in the fifties "The Best of Everything" almost seems like a story written earlier. Were people in their twenties this naive? This innocent? I have to assume some were.

It is the story of a couple on the day before their marriage is to take place in Atlantic City. The point of view switches between the two of them and you can't help but notice how drastically different they are from each other once you are in their heads. You also realize they don't know each other at all and that their marriage will probably fail quickly. 

The woman is a typical middle class young woman working as a secretary. She speaks well and is respected in her office. The man is a step or two down the socioeconomic ladder and has a poor grasp of English, which the woman's roommate makes her constantly aware of, calling he and his friends, "Ratty little clerks." 

But for whatever reason, Grace goes forward with the marriage plans although we sense her worry. Her roommate, feeling badly about the things she has said about Eddie, leaves her alone the night before the wedding and Grace plans an early consummation, feeling this will set things right.

But Eddie has been the man of the hour with his friends at a bachelor party and he is stunned by their good will. You get the feeling he has never been the center of attention before this night. He hurries to Grace's apartment to tell her he is going back to the party and her attempt to seduce him goes to naught.

We understand now that Eddie will always choose his friends over his wife and that will destroy their marriage quickly. She goes so far to put his hand on her naked breast. Nothing.

There is a lot of discussion online about this story. One teacher said it was the cause of a female student in his class dumping her boyfriend. Yates' real gift here is capturing the mind and language of both characters so clearly and with sympathy. Eddie is not a bad man and Grace is not a snob, but they certainly don't belong together. They seem to have reached an age when they believe it is time to marry no matter to whom. 

 

George Kelley 

TracyK 

Kevin Tipple

Monday, Monday

 What are you guys up to?

Monday, Monday

Started this book by Jeremy Cooper where nature stands in for film as a balm. Also just ordered HAMMERSTEIN AND THE INVENTION OF THE AMERICAN MUSICAL. Since he lived down the road from my husband's hometown I have long meant to read more about him. After watching SIX BY SONDHEIM I was reminded of it.

Watching the TV show INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE (Netflix), which is so well written despite the gore. Also watching THE LINCOLN LAWYER (NETFLIX), MY BRILLIANT FRIEND, (MAX) SHRINKING (Apple) and a lot of docs. Why make a doc when you aren't able to use more than a line or two of music (Joni Mitchell, LADY BLUE) ?

Saw WE LIVE IN TIME, which I didn't care for despite two good performances.Do people really want to see a movie that is almost entirely about dying from cancer? From the very first scenes? I should have read the reviews more carefully.

Going to see STRANGERS ON A TRAIN with Josh and family (play). On Tuesday, I fly to DC and a friend and I are going to New Hope, where we were waitresses in 1964. And where I met Phil in 1965.

Be back in a week. Will put up a Monday post for you guys to communicate on. 

Hope next we meet, we have the first Black female President.

FFB-BRIAN, Jeremy Cooper

 

This book was published in 2023 so it's not forgotten, but I'm betting few people have read it. I heard of it through a podcast GOOD READS. (on GOOD READS, three British celebrities of sorts each pick a book, which all three read).

Brian is a lonely British office worker who has shut off most of the world due to various fears. But one night he goes to the British Film Institute and enjoys a film. He begins going regularly because a membership is affordable and through his growing interest in film, he becomes familiar with the other regulars. He also begins to take film seriously and reads books about the films, the directors and engages in discussions about them after the film ends. In this way, a lonely man creates a life for himself. It still has limits-he is careful not to get too close to most of them, but it's a richer life than he lived before. We learn why he is so fearful as the book goes on and the ending is heartening. 

This is an unusual book. There is no dialogue although Brian tells us what was said. He also fills us in on what he learns through his reading, his own impression of the films. This is for a patient reader because almost nothing happens. My favorite sort of book but not everyone's.

Short Story Wednesday "You're Ugly, Too" Lorrie Moore from the Best American Short Stories of the Century"

 

This was John Updike's choice from 1990. It is probably one of the nastier Lorrie Moore stories I have read-although nasty in the way many short stories of that time were. Humorous but acid-tongued protagonists. And so often set in academia.

Zoe Hendricks is a young English professor that the reader views as pretty privileged, but she sees herself as put upon-by her ungrateful students, her not up to snuff dates, dull Midwesterners and colleagues that surround her, and her sister who gets to live in New York. It is possible fate will catch up with her--she has just had a scan to investigate a mass, but she still flies to New York to attend her sister's Halloween Party without calling for the results. She meets a man at the party and the two exchange insults and she comes close to taking out her rage on him. Well- written, lots of humor, but not my favorite Lorrie Moore story. It must have been difficult to pick the best books of the century. I mean how many books are there to choose from a year.

George Kelley

Jerry House 

Kevin Tipple 

TracyK

Monday, Monday

The 18th would have been Phil's 80th birthday. I think this photo was taken was not long before he died, probably on Cape Cod. He was such a great husband, father, friend. We never had a single fight. Probably more him than me.

Saw THE OUTRUN with Saoirse Ronan. Beautifully filmed and she was terrific but boy the story is too familiar by now. Also saw ARMY OF SHADOWS at the Detroit Film Theater. Made in 1969 by Jean Pierre Melville, a French Resistance story. Dark in every way. We went out to dinner after that and we were the oldest people in the room by 35 years. This was a super expensive place-the salads were $17-20 and entrees were $50--75. How did these kids get so much money? And to me, all the women looked like sex workers. I am getting too old. Happy to see the diversity though.

Reading BRIAN by Jeremy Cooper. So very British. Also lots of haiku books.

Watching MY BRILLIANT FRIEND, DISCLAIMER, ABBOTT'S ELEMENTARY, HOMICIDE. 

Lots more great weather. What a autumn this has been.

What about you?