11 Kinds of Loneliness

A collection of short stories each portraying a different kind of loneliness. Yates' writing is nothing short of hyponotic. Every character let me into their little part of the world and showed their rawest and deepest emotion. As a writer, Yates honors his craft and I would suggest an aspiring writer to pick this up and learn from his work. Two of his stories had a profound effect me. The first one is about a young boy who starts at a new school and lies about everything. His situation was unique but reminescent of the feelings many of us had during those turbulent middle school years. The other story was about a guy writing stories for a cabbie. Eventually, the writer recognizes their "friendship" has no real foundation and the cabbie is a friend in name only. This slice from the scence of life is worth the read.

I usually shy away from short story collections because I always feel like I've had a snack instead of a meal but Yates' stories are unexpectedly full and satisfying. He's so good at depicting time and place.....late 30's, 40's and 50's. His stories are grim as the title implies but they provide lots of insight into human motivations/feelings/relationships. These stories are well worth your reading time.

These stories will stay with me for the rest of my life, particularly "No Pain Whatsoever." Yates was a tremendously underrated writer, but hopefully won't stay that way. A must-read.

This collection is hands-down one of the best short-story collections I've read. Yates is a no-nonsense, straight-talking, highly skilled story teller with an intelligent voice who knows how to keep the reader genuinely engaged without sacrificing emotional depth or subtlety. Each and every story in this book is a winner: touching, honest, well-told, deeply felt. The collection is also a refreshing change from the morass of badly written contemporary short fiction that has taken the very worst from the minimalist movement (sometimes less IS less...). These are stories with meat on their bones--but no fat. HIGHLY recommended.

Richard Yates was a brilliant writer of novels and short stories who was universally admired by his peers including--among others--Tennessee Williams, John Updike, and Phillip Roth. His novel "Revolutionary Road" was considered groundbreaking when it was published in 1961. Never commercially successful after that, Yates continued to write and taught on a number of college campuses including the University of Iowa Writing Program. "Eleven Kinds of Loneliness" is delicious.