Cold Spring Harbor: A Novel

Originally published in 1987, Cold Spring Harbor tells the story of two Long Island families who are brought awkwardly together in 1942 through the marriage of their children, Evan and Rachel. The supporting characters include Evan's father, a former army captain whose central disappointment in life was the fact that he missed the chance to fight in World War I; Evan's mother, an alcoholic who has retreated from virtually all social life; Rachel's mother, a socially awkward divorcee who is desperate for human connection; and Rachel's brother, a misfit prep school student.The plot of the story consists of the simple activities of family life: Evan and Rachel meet and get married, their parents get to know one another, and Phil, Rachel's brother, painfully goes about the business of trying to get along at a school where he knows he doesn't belong. Yates views all of this from a distance, depriving the reader of any chance to feel real empathy for any of the characters. But the plot isn't the point, and neither are the characters. The real point here is the sense of hopelessness and despair that runs through the lives of everyone in the story.Yates, who died in 1992, was a master at pinpointing the sense of weary dread experienced by everyday people whose lives lack meaning. Everyone here goes about the events of their lives more worried about how they'll look to others than about why they do what they do, and whether they really should be doing it. Evan's decision to try to enlist in the military is more about how he thinks he'll look in a uniform than it is about any sense of patriotism or a desire to save the free world. One gets the sense that Evan's mother is the only really sensible one in the bunch; hiding in her home and refusing to participate in the empty social exchanges that occupy everyone else seems entirely reasonable, given how grim the alternative is.The characters are shallow, rudderless, unhappy, and disconnected from one another. While this might make it difficult for the reader to connect emotionally with any of the characters, Yates more than makes up for it with his dead-on observations about what it is to live a life detached from a sense of purpose and self-worth, and what that might do to a person's soul.Cold Spring Harbor is a brilliant and devastating book so full of insightful observations that I found myself more than once being sucker-punched by the harsh truths on the page. I highly recommend it, along with Yates's better-known Revolutionary Road.

Richard Yates’s Cold Spring Harbor details the stresses and tensions of living as a young couple, Evan and Rachel Shephard, in New York in the 1940’s. After a chance meeting in lower Manhattan, they were rapidly drawn together into romance and eventually marriage. Evan and Rachel may not be perfectly matched, but then none of us are. However, Evan has a troubled past, has been married and divorced, and has a daughter already while sweet Rachel is somewhat child-like while constantly passing through life with her head in the clouds.Complicating matters for Evan and Rachel are Rachel’s mother and her brother, Phil, as well as Evan’s parents, Charles and Gloria. It would be surprising if Richard Yates were to tell us a happy story but Yates doesn’t do happy. Despite the beleaguered and bleak setting in the lives of the characters, Yates writing shines through as always with great clarity and crispness. The read can be emotionally draining but Yates’s writing and his development of the story and characters make this a joy to read even though by its end a bitter taste remains.This is the last of Yates’s novels written, originally published in 1986, about eight years before Yates’s death. While many say it is not his best work, others rally behind Yates as one of our great writers of the 20th century.Of note and interest is the dedication to Kurt Vonnegut with whom Yates was friends.In my humble opinion, I enjoyed Revolutionary Road, another of Yates’s works, much more than this one. I would recommend not starting your reading with Cold Spring Harbor but with Revolutionary Road, or one of his earlier novels.

Finished Cold Spring Harbor this morning. This slight, multi-voiced novel is the second of Yates' that I have read. It reminds me of Revolutionary Road with similar themes of unhappy suburban life, of men especially unfulfilled, feeling like it is their right to drink excessively, cheat on their wives, and blame the circumstances of timing on the lost opportunities of their careers. In this novel the circumstances include missing out on the action of both World Wars, Charles Shepard, and then Evan , his son. Evan is introduced earlier as the 17 year old son who finally found his love of cars that distract him away form being a bully and a lout. His father didn't know what to do with him but in a line that seems to be the chorus here "maybe all you could ever do, beyond suffering, was wait and see what might be going to happen next." Evan is a handsome young man and his confidence when driving a car makes him appealing to first Mary and then after that ill fated early marriage breaks up, Rachel, who he meets when his car breaks down in Greenwich Village. "There might still be times in Evan Shepard’s life when he was afraid he wouldn’t amount to much, but he always knew what he looked like, and he knew it gave him a decided advantage with girls." Evan's second marriage to Rachel allows the author to explore the intertwining of two families, both who are living with mothers whose mental health make it difficult for the men in the house. Mostly these portraits are unflattering but precise in their depiction and Yates does a nice job of chronicling this period of the failed American Dream.

Richard Yates, in my opinion, writes some of the most beautiful, emotionally gripping and hard to forget novels that have ever been written and this is no exception.I am not going to give away the plot, but more praise the style of writing. Yates was able to use sparse prose to quickly invite the reader into the lives of numerous individuals. He has an uncanny and frankly unique ability to involve the reader in the characters lives, so much so that he makes the ordinary gripping and you feel that you know the main characters. Would thoroughly recommend it his novel.

Whilst Cold Spring Harbor is not much longer than a novella, at only about 175 pages, it is really a superb novel with richly developed characters and themes. Yates has a way of making his characters real by fleshing out their flaws, weaknesses and disappointments through clear prose and crisp dialogue. Cold Spring Harbor is a story about the lives of ordinary people, and there is a lot of sadness in the story, but Yates writes in such a way that makes it dramatic and beautiful and enjoyable to read.

A fabulous book because Richard Yates is such a master at observing people, their habits, their faults and choices they make in life. I only wish it had been much longer I was really involved in all the characters then it ended quite abruptly! I will just have to read another of his books!

Really enjoyed this book. Classic Yates themes and prose. Not a book to read to cheer yourself up but an outstanding read nonetheless.

Having read and loved Revolutionary Road I decided to read more of Yates' work (as revolutionary road was my first) and once again I am in love with Yates' brilliant writing. I only finished the book today and I'm still thinking over the themes, ideas and points being made in the story so I won't say much apart from interesting and entertaining and (so far) Yates' novels are always worth reading.