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A review by kimbofo
Cold Spring Harbor by Richard Yates
4.0
Set in the mid-1930s, just before the war and during it, Cold Spring Harbor tells the story of two families — the Shephards and the Drakes — and their unlikely coming together.
The lynchpin of the story is Evan Shephard, a good-looking man with no direction and a deep love of automobiles, who meets young Rachel Drake by chance (his car breaks down, en route to New York, outside her childhood home) and later marries her. He already has one failed short-lived marriage behind him, and a young daughter, but his parents hope this will give their only son the fresh start he needs.
Later, when war breaks out, Evan is rejected because he has perforated eardrums, a decision that delights his wife (because it means he can stay at home) but disappoints his father (a former Army captain who had hoped a stint in the army might help his immature son grow up).
To save enough money to fund future university studies so Evan can become an engineer rather than a machinist, the couple move in with Rachel’s mother, the larger-than-life socially needy Mrs Drake, in a small house in Cold Spring Harbor, not far from where Evan grew up. Rachel’s younger brother still lives at home when he’s not at boarding school, so the house is relatively crowded (and damp).
Thrust together in this way, the tensions between everyone fester and stretch to breaking point. The novel is at its best focusing on these relationships, examining in almost forensic detail the ways in which they begin to unravel, but also honing in on the strained contact between the in-laws and the even more strained relationship between Evan and his father.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
The lynchpin of the story is Evan Shephard, a good-looking man with no direction and a deep love of automobiles, who meets young Rachel Drake by chance (his car breaks down, en route to New York, outside her childhood home) and later marries her. He already has one failed short-lived marriage behind him, and a young daughter, but his parents hope this will give their only son the fresh start he needs.
Later, when war breaks out, Evan is rejected because he has perforated eardrums, a decision that delights his wife (because it means he can stay at home) but disappoints his father (a former Army captain who had hoped a stint in the army might help his immature son grow up).
To save enough money to fund future university studies so Evan can become an engineer rather than a machinist, the couple move in with Rachel’s mother, the larger-than-life socially needy Mrs Drake, in a small house in Cold Spring Harbor, not far from where Evan grew up. Rachel’s younger brother still lives at home when he’s not at boarding school, so the house is relatively crowded (and damp).
Thrust together in this way, the tensions between everyone fester and stretch to breaking point. The novel is at its best focusing on these relationships, examining in almost forensic detail the ways in which they begin to unravel, but also honing in on the strained contact between the in-laws and the even more strained relationship between Evan and his father.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.