Name: Liars in Love
ISBN: 9781446420690

Richard Yates

The stories in Liars in Love are concerned with troubled relations and the elusive nature of truth. Whether it be in the depiction of the complications of divorced families, grown-up daughters, estranged sisters, office friendships or fleeting love affairs, the pieces in this collection showcase Richard Yates's extraordinary gift for observation and his understanding of human frailty.

Liars in Love

A collection of short stories--including "Trying Out for the Race," "A Compassionate Leave," "Oh, Joseph, I'm So Tired," and "Saying Good-bye to Sally"--explores troubled human relationships and family life

Bob Simone

(This is for both Eleven Kinds of Loneliness and Liars in Love, which I read as a single volume.)

The first couple stories are fantastic, but then themes and characters and events start repeating. Not as part of some connected whole, but like he is recycling things that he used in other stories. I'm not opposed in principle, but it really takes me out of the moment when I see a characters that bears strong similarities to one from another story (or another book of his) that is doing the same thing the first character did. Not only that, but it makes it hard to distinguish the stories, especially when they aren't read immediately back to back. ("Was this the writer who wrote behind a screen for himself, or for the other guy? And I know he doesn't like his wife, but which wife is she?") Part of this problem may have stemmed from the fact that I read both Liars in Love and 11 Kinds of Loneliness back-to-back, because they were bound in the same volume.

Not sure if this is indicative of a feeling towards short stories, or just just this collection of short stories. I don't really like procedurals though, so I bet it's the medium.

Steve Metcalf from the Slate Culture Gabfest (highly, highly recommended) recommended Revolutionary Road, The Easter Parade, Liars in Love, and 11 Kinds of Loneliness. I recommend Revolutionary Road and the Easter Parade.

Liars in Love

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