YOUNG HEARTS CRYING (Richard Yates) - July 11/09

This is a rewarding yet awfully trying book that essentially tracks the adulthood of two characters: semi-insane poet Michael and wealthy yet unfulfilled Lucy. Yates does a superb job of taking both characters and developing them into fully-formed figures. But it's hard to deny that the novel's inherently uneventful sensibilities ensures that long stretches of it can't help but come off as less than enthralling. Still, it's very well written and I'm certainly curious to check out more of Yates' work. **1/2 out of ****