Reviews

The first line of The Easter Parade: "Neither of the Grimes sisters would have a happy life." Richard Yates certainly delivers on that promise. The story just rolls along, never dwelling for too long on any one instance or period in the lives of Sarah and Emily. It's a book about how quickly middle age comes, how fast life moves, and the fact that these things happen even if, as Emily says: "I never understood anything in my whole life." Time will pass and you will get older, regardless of what you do in the meantime. Also, Yates seems convinced that whatever path you take, you end up unhappy. It's bleak, but there it is.

mariavazquezsolaun's review against another edition

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4.0

«Ninguna de las hermanas Grimes estaba destinada a ser feliz». Así empieza esta novela en la que conocida la suerte de las protagonistas, uno solo puede sentarse y contemplar su caída.

Durante los años 30 en Nueva York, Sarah y Emily se enfrentan a la separación de sus padres. Unos años más tarde, como mujeres adultas, toman rumbos muy diferentes. Sarah se refugia en su matrimonio, convirtiéndose en una esposa americana de libro para Tony, mientras que Emily busca huir de la soledad encadenando una relación tras otra.

Poder ser testigo de la vida de Emily desde su infancia hasta los 50 años es una de las mejores cosas que te regala esta novela. No porque Emily sea una mujer excepcional, sino por la forma tan real en la que Yates retrata su vida. Por su capacidad para mostrarnos su vulnerabilidad y sus miedos. Miedo a no querer lo suficiente y a que no la quieran lo suficiente, miedo a no lograr ser lo que quiere ser y lo que los demás esperan que sea... Y es que aunque los demás vean en Emily la encarnación de la mujer moderna y liberada, esta no es sino un intento frustrado de ello.

La forma de relacionarse de Emil, Sarah y Pookie, su madre, una mujer que ha visto su sueño de vida truncado y vive enajenada por ello, es otro de los puntos fuertes. La autocomplacencia, las relaciones materno-filiales, el alcoholismo aceptado, la violencia de genero o el ineludible paso del tiempo son solo algunos de los temas sobre los que una se ve obligado a reflexionar leyéndolas.

Y no puedo dejar de mencionar el tercer punto fuerte de esta novela: la prosa de Yates, en la que tan importante son las palabras utilizadas como aquellas que se omiten. Yates consigue que empatices con cada personaje, que entiendas por que hacen lo que hace -incluso cuando tu harías las cosas de forma muy diferente- sin caer en el sentimentalismo.

Las hermanas Grimes es una lectura que deja poso. He disfrutado mucho leyéndola aunque he encontrado un pequeño pero en el final. Y es que la escena del espejo me parecía un gran final, suficientemente poderoso para dejarlo ahí por lo que no he entendido la necesidad de rescatar a otro personaje para redondearlo.

alonahami's review

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

sarahweiss's review

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

umasbooks's review

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

musubi_mumma's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

Originally published in 1976, The Easter Parade, justifies its classic status. The story, revolving around gendered concerns, the complications of family and love, imparting a sense of futility and time passing, remains wholly contemporary. Yates' novel is one that entered on a timelessness human experience: life and living.

That said, for all its timelessness, the novel is grounded in its historical moment. It carries the reader through several decades, letting them be witness to shifts in American culture, especially as it pertains to gendered expectations and the function of love and sex in the lives of educated white women in mid-twentieth century America.

The plot follows the life of two sisters, though it is centrally focused on the younger, Emily Grimes. As children Sarah and Emily Grimes were part of a generation whose parents were divorced; their mother is a single mother, their father is an absent, yet present factor in their lives. The tale follows them through adolescence and then young adulthood, where their paths diverge. Sarah takes the more conventional path of marriage, child-bearing and raising, while Emily pursues academic life, single womanhood, love affairs -- marriage too, but also divorce -- and a career. The Easter Parade is built on their divergent, yet intertwined lives; Part three and four of the novel take the reader into the interiority of their familial and sibling bond. Despite their differences, the sisters remain, well, sisters.

In a sense, this is a novel about nothing and everything, the intangibility of our lives and the worth of living those lives. I have just finished reading it, feeling like I have traversed the twentieth century, like I have witnessed humanity being played out among other people, been given a privileged view into someone's life.

mcw1024's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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