Weekend Guide 01.08.2021
Devastating fiction
When I read the word devastating on the back of a book I know i’m in for it. Just like i’ve always been a sucker for anything by Red House Painters or The Smiths, I can’t get enough of a really fucking sad book. I feel like most books are sad, or maybe i’m just drawn to a tragic story. Either way, I get really excited when I can add another book to my short list - ‘saddest of all time’.
Not the boo-hoo sad. The kind of sad that captures the human experience. Sad books cut the deepest because they’re just like looking in the mirror. The sadder the book, the deeper the cut, the more crystal-clear the mirror.
The Easter Parade by Richard Yates is the latest addition to my all time scroll of sad. Hows this for an opening sentence?
"Neither of the Grimes sisters would have a happy life, and looking back it always seemed that the trouble began with their parents' divorce."
It’s American Pastoral without the bombing. The Easter Parade is the story of two lives observed over four decades - love given, love received, successes, failures and ultimately the collapse of family. It’s short (229 pages) and reads quick. Yates’ style is hyper-real and matter of fact. His characters feel like relatives. Set in a learned, UES New York City - It’s a well manicured hand slowly seeping its way through your chest cavity. It wraps it’s painted fingernails around your slowly beating heart then starts to retreat, heart in hand. You know it’s coming but the descent is slow and stylish so you succumb. It’s a slow motion car crash. It’s a joy to watch it all fall apart.
Give it a go if you enjoy other devastating novels like A Little Life by Hanya Yanagaihara or Stoner by John Williams.
Some photos I saved to my phone that have nothing to do with The Easter Parade.
Spend some time with a devastating book this weekend. Lean into the discomfort. Don’t they say that the only things worth doing are difficult? I feel like that saying applies to devastating fiction. Stay dialed in for an interview with a great author next week.
Leave your favorite sad book in the comment section. I am always looking for great recommendations.
Peace and love.
Light Years by James Salter, Preparations for the Next Life by Atticus Lish. i love devastatingly sad books too.
Is Charlotte's Web too on the nose? There's something about death as a theme in children's literature that just sticks with you; like, the first time you consider it as a possibility. I just got pretty sad reading the book's wiki entry! But, it's also a crucial tale for seven (and probably seventy) year-olds whose brains are starting to wrinkle and feel more connected to the world around them. Beverly Cleary's Dear Mr. Henshaw was also a pretty foundational read for me as a young pup--the first time reconciling with issues like divorce, loneliness, and writing about thoughts & feelings.
The last book that made me cry was Dan Simmons' The Fall of Hyperion. With sunglasses on, sitting in a chaise by the pool at a Miami Beach hotel that Devin Brugman has posted from. The Hyperion "Cantos" is a four-part sci-fi series (I've only read the first two), so I know I probably can't get you interested--EXCEPT: I'm pretty sure Bradley Cooper has retained the film rights to the tale for several years now! Your boy... the Philly #1 baby, letsgobirds, hitting up The Continental Midtown for sake bombs, actually-probably-grew-up-in-Wayne, PA and not Philly proper actor who I've only seen in the Wet Hot American Summer movies, but I know is actually incredibly famous and in Marvel movies now. (And, apparently incredibly cool for also liking the Hyperion books.)
I'm looking forward to next week's interview with a great author! Thanks, Dan, for always doing this.
the weekend guide's at-reply guy, Bill