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Product Description
Review
“Soft-spoken in his prose and terrifyingly accurate in his dialogue, Yates renders his characters with such authenticity that you hardly realize what he's done.” —The Boston Globe"One of America's best-kept secrets. . . . Keenly insightful, brutally honest...delivering a swift kick to the heart." —The Denver Post“Yates writes powerfully and enters completely and effortlessly into the lives of his characters.” —The New York Times Book Review
Product Description
Robert Prentice has spent all his life attempting to escape his mother's stifling presence. His mother, Alice, for her part, struggles with her own demons as she attempts to realize her dreams of prosperity and success as a sculptor. As Robert goes off to fight in Europe, hoping to become his own man, Richard Yates portrays a soldier in the depths of war striving to live up to his heroic ideals. With haunting clarity, Yates crafts an unforgettable portrait of two people who cannot help but hope for more even as life challenges them both.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good But Falls Short of Revolutionary Road,
By
This review is from: A Special Providence: A Novel (Paperback)
A Distant Second to Revolutionary Road.Yates draws some compelling characters in this drama about a mother's inability to come to terms with a cruel world that doesn't give a damn about her 3rd rate artwork, and her son, a young private in the army during WWII. There were some poignant moments and Yates, as always, shows us the dirty underside of the american dream, but he strays too far from these strengths in A Special Providence. Half the novel takes place in a war setting, and frankly, Yates' war-writing is some of the least memorable I've ever read. Try Mailer or Herr or Heller if that's what you're looking for. Another annoying tidbit is the repetitiveness of the narrative. Anyway, it's a pretty good read, but nothing "great". Yates is better when he stays closer to home. This story is not as tightly wound as Rev Road, and we don't care about the characters nearly as much. Okay, that's my two cents.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Maybe his second best novel,
By Geoff Schumacher (Las Vegas, Nevada United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Special Providence: A Novel (Paperback)
Richard Yates is underappreciated. The general reading public doesn't know him. He had all but faded into literary history after his death until a recent short story collection revived interest in his work. But discerning readers of modern fiction have always placed him in the same literary class as John Cheever, John Updike and the other better-known modernists of the second half of the 20th century. His best-selling and arguably best novel was his first, Revolutionary Road, which captured 1950s suburban angst about as well as anybody. His second novel, which was published fully eight years later, is A Special Providence. It is not well known but it, too, is an excellent work. It tells the story of a mother and her son. It focuses partly on the mother's constant and fruitless search for artistic respect and financial security as well as on the son's experiences during World War II. Unlike some Yates novels, A Special Providence holds together from beginning to end. But it is especially strong in describing the son's relatively brief and unfulfilling war experiences in the European theater. Yates certainly isn't known as an adventure writer, but A Special Providence reveals his ability to create a compelling, fast-paced narrative when the story calls for it. In fact, Yates is at his best when he is in the midst of a strong bit of narrative. Some of his other novels ultimately failed, and failed to draw readers, because they descended for prolonged periods into plodding narrative and excessive introspection. This doesn't happen much in A Special Providence, and that's why it's at least his second best novel.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.1 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews) 20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Maybe his second best novel,
By Geoff Schumacher - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: A Special Providence: A Novel (Paperback)
Richard Yates is underappreciated. The general reading public doesn't know him. He had all but faded into literary history after his death until a recent short story collection revived interest in his work. But discerning readers of modern fiction have always placed him in the same literary class as John Cheever, John Updike and the other better-known modernists of the second half of the 20th century. His best-selling and arguably best novel was his first, Revolutionary Road, which captured 1950s suburban angst about as well as anybody. His second novel, which was published fully eight years later, is A Special Providence. It is not well known but it, too, is an excellent work. It tells the story of a mother and her son. It focuses partly on the mother's constant and fruitless search for artistic respect and financial security as well as on the son's experiences during World War II. Unlike some Yates novels, A Special Providence holds together from beginning to end. But it is especially strong in describing the son's relatively brief and unfulfilling war experiences in the European theater. Yates certainly isn't known as an adventure writer, but A Special Providence reveals his ability to create a compelling, fast-paced narrative when the story calls for it. In fact, Yates is at his best when he is in the midst of a strong bit of narrative. Some of his other novels ultimately failed, and failed to draw readers, because they descended for prolonged periods into plodding narrative and excessive introspection. This doesn't happen much in A Special Providence, and that's why it's at least his second best novel.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A nice piece of writing.,
By TChris - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: A Special Providence (Paperback)
Yates tells two related stories -- one focused on a mother, the other on her son -- in quiet, elegant prose. The son's is a war story: a young soldier at the end of World War II yearns for heroism but, in small ways, consistently disappoints himself. His story is gripping, but in some ways his mother's smaller story is more compelling. Just as her son fantasizes about being a hero, she clings to an unrealistic vision of herself as a successful artist while enduring (bravely or blindly) the disappointments that comprise her life. Yates concludes the novel by bringing the two stories together in what seems like an inevitable conclusion to the mother's life of disappointment.The mother and son are realistic, multidimensional characters. They aren't easy to like but, more importantly, they aren't easy to forget. If you're looking for a happy, Pollyannish ending, this is a book you'll want to avoid. If you're looking for a wonderfully written novel about adversity that conveys a feeling of truth, A Special Providence is worth your time. If I could, I would give it 4 1/2 stars. 4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
More mastery from one of America's best ever ...,
By Charlie Stella - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: A Special Providence (Paperback)
This one was the perfect cap to the Yates collection for me ... mostly because now I can begin rereading his masterful collection, but also because it dealt with (I suspect) his time in the Army during the close of WWII. The back and forth, mom and son, worked well and Yates ability with open endings is overwhelming. Perhaps, the most underappreciated American writer ever, Yates is a pure pleasure to read. He knows how to touch on every single thread of the human condition and to make it vibrate so it can't be ignored.
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