Yates, Richard. Easter Parade. Delacorte Press, 1976.
Reason read: Richard Yates was mentioned in More Book Lust in the siblings chapter for The Easter Parade and April is National Siblings Month. Also, Easter is traditionally in April. A couple of reasons for reading Easter Parade in April.
Easter Parade is an easy read about two sisters and their very different lives. Sarah Grimes marries quickly and has three children while Emily Grimes focuses on her career. Neither has a happy existence as each sister is deeply flawed. Easter Parade has been described as Yates’s most autobiographical novel. Many, if not all, of the characters are loosely based in real people in Yates’s lifetime. For some individuals, the veil that separates fiction from reality is spider web thin and they are easily identifiable. Many other details are just as transparent; right down to the name of the house on Long Island.
It has been determined through other documentation that Richard had based the character of Emily on himself. Interesting. I say interesting because I found Emily to be a sad and lonely woman. She bounced from one meaningless sexual encounter to another. Her relationships are shallow and fleeting because she is miserable at picking men or keeping friendships. At times I wanted her to find love while other times I was annoyed by her shrill personality.
As an aside, I want to know if Irving Berlin say his greatest fear is to reach for something and it isn’t going to be there? That is such a profound image. What do you take for granted? A favorite pen? An old lover? What will you reach for and discover its absence?
Favorite phrase, “…the room exploded into clarity” (p 150).
Author fact: Yates also wrote Revolutionary Road. I hope to be reading that in a few years.
Book trivia: Easter Parade addresses uncomfortable topics such as domestic violence, erectile dysfunction, alcoholism, and even hints at incest.
Setlist: “All the Things You Are”, “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered”, “Bye Bye Love”, Chopin, Everly Brothers, “Look for the Silver Lining”, Sinatra, “Welcome, Sweet Springtime”, and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone”.
Nancy said: Pearl called Easter Parade “perfection” and a book to be read with Off Keck Road by Mona Simpson and Our Kind by Kate Walbert. Confessional: I have already read Simpson so I will have to go back and read the review.
BookLust Twist: only from More Book Lust but mentioned quite a few times. First, in the chapter called “Literary Lives: the Americans” (p 145), then in the chapter called “Men Channeling Women” (p 166). Also mentioned in the chapter simply called “Sibs” (p 199). Lastly, The Easter Parade is included in “Two, or Three, are Better Than One” (p 226). Four times in one book! I think Pearl liked this one.