Eleven Kinds of Loneliness by Richard Yates
Originally published in 1962, one year after the release of Revolutionary Road, this sublime collection of short stories stands with the earlier masterpiece novel at the pinnacle of American postwar fiction. Hailed by The New York Times Book Review as 'the New York equivalent of Dubliners', Eleven Kinds of Loneliness sees Yates cast his characteristically compassionate eye over eleven unrelenting but flawless portraits of human frailty and resilience. Whether addressing the smothered desire of suburban housewives, the white-collar despair of Manhattan office workers, the grim humour that attends life on a tuberculosis ward, or the moments of terrified peace experienced by American soldiers in World War II, Yates examines every frayed corner of the American Dream.