A Good School: A Novel

Rating:

This is a SWEET book, something you could not say about Rev Road and Easter Parade (the other Yates' books that I have read). From what I gather (from reading about all of Yates' books), this is as Hollywood as Yates gets. But this book still contains the trademark Yates' sensitivity and sparse, transparent writing.

This 'coming of age at a boarding school' story has been told many times before in books and movies, but it is real neat to see Yates' take on the genre. Everything just rings true to me here. Yates is considerate of the motivations and anxieties of the main characters. And for the 'only happy when it rains' crowd, this book is still Yates to the core: everything is not 'happy, happy' here.

Also, you get Yates' opinion (well placed within the story) on the value of the 'well rounded education'. Yates is not a fan of the 'well rounded education', preferring a more specialized approach to education. I say AMEN to that.

Rating:

More than a "good" novel, 'A Good School' is an observant and engaging coming of age story that does not dissapoint.

The novel tells the story of many different characters, William Grove an awkward boy who becomes editor of the school newspaper; Jack Draper, a crippled Chemistry teacher; Edith Stone, the schoolmaster's young and beautiful daughter; and Robert Driscoll, the English master at Dorset Academy.

Think J.D. Salinger (of 'The Catcher in the Rye' fame) but with the eye and feel of Richard Yates, which means the reader gets a thoughtful and meaningful ovbservation of life. The story is utterly absorbing and involving. It's also a fast read that should have you wanting to read more of Yate's other novels (and I hope you do!). 'A Good School' is powerful yet subltle but important enough to strike up a conversation with anyone. What does a "good" education mean? What can a "good" education do for someone? What does going to a "good" school mean? and Is it all worth it in the end?

The answers are in this mere 178 page novel. Read it!

Rating:

Yates once again recycles the same characters, broadens his scope a little to focus on the private school setting and pulls off yet another great read! For an in-depth look at Yates and his work, google "Stewart O'Nan Richard Yates."

Rating:

Like many, I only recently discovered Richard Yates. After "Revolutionary Road," I immediately read all of his other published work and am now looking around like a person in shock after a collision, trying to come to grips with the reality that this is it. There is no more.

Yates has a rare talent for making the freakiness of human nature almost beautiful. I found myself falling in love with the characters and forgetting about the plot. His characters are eerily familiar in so many ways, almost like old friends or people you've somehow always known. And their thoughts and actions, as deranged and illogical and pathetic as they often are, just seem natural.

"A Good School" is one of the few exceptions to the old "Truth is stranger than fiction" adage. It's strange, and it doesn't feel like a story. Yates elaborately intertwines the individual tragedies of each of his characters, careful to keep the hideousness bearable and drawing out the beauty at key points to make this an intensely interesting, entertaining read that effortlessly touches the reader's emotions.

Rating:

Amici, this guy (Yates) is so good it hurts. Powerfully painful ... the shame is his sales are now probably a thousand times better than when he was alive ... and the irony is there aren't as many readers of literature anymore ... go figure ... but read it ... definitely read anything by Richard Yates. One of America's absolute best ever.