Unfortunately, Disturbing The Peace has less of all that, and more focus is given to the problems themselves, (alcoholism, insanity, etc.) rather than the impacts those problems carry. John’s wife Janice is pretty much a cipher in the book, and their marriage is not ever defined in such ways that Yates was able to accomplish in The Easter Parade between the lead character, Emily Grimes, and her loser husbands/boyfriends. In fact, it’s been a few months since I’ve read The Easter Parade, and only a day since Disturbing The Peace, and I’ve already forgotten most of the characters in the latter subject at hand; whereas those in The Easter Parade still remain fresh.
Disturbing The Peace is still a solid book, though it’s not one I recommend for anyone new to Yates. It is ironic too that this book is at least a hundred pages longer than Cold Spring Harbor (one of his better novels that falls just shy of greatness) but Disturbing The Peace feels not as fleshed out. These two novels share very similar qualities (where the lead lacks any real drive in life and alcoholism lingers), but again, Cold Spring Harbor dealt more with the impact of the problems, while Disturbing The Peace focuses on the problems themselves, and lacks some of the subtlety of the former novel.
Yates is not a hit and miss sort of novelist. His books are all, to some degree, hits, though some are definitely better hits than others. Disturbing The Peace is a solid hit, and certainly a book worth reading, though I recommend doing so once his better works have already been visited. One of the unfortunate results of when a writer accomplishes greatness is that readers then will hold that writer to a higher standard; and if that standard falls just shy, seemingly lackluster reviews result. Had this book been written by anyone else, I likely would have been more enthused, and even sought out other works. Though after broaching the books of Richard Yates, a writer who should and eventually will be lumped beside (and perhaps even surpass one day) the likes of Fitzgerald or Hemingway, being underwhelmed for a work as this can mean a good thing. And anyway, I still have two more books to go.
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