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  • Disturbing the Peace

  • By: Richard Yates
  • Narrated by: Marc Vietor
  • Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (14 ratings)

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Disturbing the Peace

By: Richard Yates
Narrated by: Marc Vietor
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Summary

Hailed as "America’s finest realistic novelist" by the Boston Globe, Richard Yates, author of Revolutionary Road, garnered rare critical acclaim for his bracing, unsentimental portraits of middle-class American life. Disturbing the Peace is no exception. Haunting, troubling, and mesmerizing, it shines a brilliant, unwavering light into the darkest recesses of a man’s psyche.

To all appearances, John Wilder has all the trappings of success, circa 1960: a promising career in advertising, a loving family, a beautiful apartment, even a country home. John’s evenings are spent with associates at quiet Manhattan lounges and his weekends with friends at glittering cocktail parties. But something deep within this seemingly perfect life has long since gone wrong. Something has disturbed John’s fragile peace, and he can no longer find solace in fleeting affairs or alcohol. The anger, the drinking, and the recklessness are building to a crescendo—and they’re about to take down John’s career and his family. What happens next will send John on a long, strange journey—at once tragic and inevitable.

As an added bonus, when you purchase our Audible Modern Vanguard production of Richard Yates' book, you'll also receive an exclusive Jim Atlas interview. This interview – where James Atlas interviews Blake Bailey about the life and work of Richard Yates – begins as soon as the audiobook ends.

©1976 Richard Yates (P)2009 Audible, Inc.
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Critic reviews

"One of the handful of American novelists…who can be said to have a ‘vision of life.’ " (New York Times Book Review)
"Richard Yates is among the very truest of American writers. Each of his novels and each story unfalteringly traces our destinies and rescues us from the lost. He sees eye-to-eye with every one of us." (Gina Berriault)
"Yates’ strongest novel since Revolutionary Road.” (Kirkus Reviews)

What listeners say about Disturbing the Peace

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    5 out of 5 stars

Richard Yates superbly dark novel.

Really enjoyed this novel, written in 1975, it has that feel of the recently departed sixties about it. You feel for the protagonist without liking him. His inability to control his emotions and relationships is the main part of his decline. Yates creates a character with many insecurities and addictions, he lacks any form of self control but still manages to get a whole host of people to support and love him. Complex and tragic, yet darkly comic in places. A very well crafted novel. 5 stars all day long.

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