Reviews

• The book gives off a vintage feel, from the cover to the pages. It's almost like you have entered the library of your grandfather and discovered a properly laminated, unread copy of it. The story is intriguing, given you have been a girl with a sibling sister growing up. Much better if you are the elder sister.

• J'ai beaucoup aimé l'histoire de ces 2 soeurs dont dès le début , l'auiteur nous annonce qu'elles ne seront pas heureuses dans leur vie de femmes ; il va le démontrer : on assistera , effectivement , à 2 rataages , dûs à des choix de vie pourtant différents , voire opposés ; il nous offre une peinture de la condition féminine à son époque . son écriture est très agréable à lire et l'on s'attache réellement au destin de ces 2 soeurs .

• Don’t you love coming across a literary gem you've never read and it turns out to be one of those twinkly stories filled with remarkable characters, each one so flawed, fragile, exquisite in their ways, romantic, sad, from another era, that you don’t know how you’re going to find another book that will ever match up but of course you do. Well, that is this book and you know the author but I’m telling you, if you haven’t read this one, please add it to your great big stack of books when you aren’t interested in any of the great big new releases. Save it for a rainy day. Yes, the very same Yates of REVOLUTIONARY ROAD. Don’t expect a happy tale but stay with me. If you are down with a bit of melancholy, which often make for the best stories, such as this one, you’ll enjoy these character studies where life doesn’t exactly go as planned. It’s the 1930s, let’s begin with Pookie, a doozy, though it’s really about her daughters, Sarah and Emily. Pookie has delusions of grandeur. She sets her sights high with a sort of, 'if you build it, they will come' attitude. We follow the sisters from childhood through adulthood, the paths they take, long for, how their relationship diverges. A series of tragedies. Abundant with emotion. Marriage, divorce, dysfunctional families, (not that they would have used this term when the book was written in 1976). It hit the spot during my ‘reading old books’ phase a couple of months ago.

• Yates non tradisce mai. Tra i grandi del 900 usa. In questo caso osservazione psicologica e di costume in grande evidenza sempre col suo stile sottotono esattissimo spietato. Personaggi sempre minori, infelici, irrisolti, sfortunati cui lui da grandezza.

• The sheer brevity of this near perfect novel underlines the magical way in which Mr Yates, with miraculous economy, manages to encapsulate many lifetimes of the characters' experiences into the most humble of spaces. That encapsulation both enriches and heightens those experiences. The book feels as if it has not come from an author's pen, but simply IS. The best novel I have read in years and I feel so lucky to have discovered Richard Yates.

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